A well-publicized clash between Israel’s defense and political echelons has occurred yet again. At issue this time is not a disagreement over military matters or the desired intensity of reactions to terrorism. Rather, it is the question of whether the Gaza Strip is collapsing or “only” experiencing a bearable economic crisis.
At the Feb. 4 weekly Cabinet meeting, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot warned that Gaza was on the verge of collapse, adding that Israel should take significant preventive measures. An additional deterioration, he warned, could increase prospects of a clash with Hamas in the coming year — even though neither side wants one.
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai voiced similar concern about the effect of a total breakdown in Gaza at a Jan. 31 emergency meeting of Palestinian Authority (PA) donor states in Brussels. Mordechai called on all the donors to mobilize for Gaza’s sake and presented a detailed plan for the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip’s infrastructure. However, Mordechai’s blueprint could take many months to implement, far longer than the Israeli defense assessment of the timetable for Gaza’s collapse.
A day after Eizenkot described his catastrophic Gaza scenario, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman contradicted him. “The situation in Gaza is indeed serious. There is a very serious economic situation that must be dealt with, but there is no humanitarian crisis,” Liberman told Knesset members of his Yisrael Beitenu party. Liberman insisted that Eizenkot and other defense professionals shared his views. Responding to the chief of staff’s warning that the humanitarian crisis could result in an armed clash that neither side desires, Liberman said dismissively, “Since yesterday, we have witnessed the flow of a lot of information and mainly disinformation in all the media regarding the Gaza Strip. … We have no intention of initiating any military action in Gaza, but I’m glad the Hamas leadership is in a panic.”
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
