Report: US, Israel Discuss Possible US-led Administration for Gaza  

Mourners grieve a Palestinian victim killed in an Israeli army airstrike in the Gaza city on Tuesday. (EPA) 
Mourners grieve a Palestinian victim killed in an Israeli army airstrike in the Gaza city on Tuesday. (EPA) 
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Report: US, Israel Discuss Possible US-led Administration for Gaza  

Mourners grieve a Palestinian victim killed in an Israeli army airstrike in the Gaza city on Tuesday. (EPA) 
Mourners grieve a Palestinian victim killed in an Israeli army airstrike in the Gaza city on Tuesday. (EPA) 

The United States and Israel have discussed the possibility of Washington leading a temporary post-war administration of Gaza, five people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

The “high-level” consultations have centered around a transitional government headed by a US official that would oversee Gaza until it had been demilitarized and stabilized, and a viable Palestinian administration had emerged, the sources said.

According to the discussions, which remain preliminary, there would be no fixed timeline for how long such a US-led administration would last, which would depend on the situation on the ground, the five sources said.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the talks publicly, compared the proposal to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq that Washington established in 2003, shortly after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The authority was perceived by many Iraqis as an occupying force and it transferred power to an interim Iraqi government in 2004 after failing to contain a growing insurgency.

Other countries would be invited to take part in the US-led authority in Gaza, the sources said, without identifying which ones.

They said the administration would draw on Palestinian technocrats but would exclude the Hamas movement and the Palestinian Authority, which holds limited authority in the occupied West Bank.

Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, sparked the current war when its fighters stormed into southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing another 251.

The sources said it remained unclear whether any agreement could be reached. Discussions had not progressed to the point of considering who might take on core roles, they said.

The sources did not specify which side had put forward the proposal nor provide further details of the talks.

In response to Reuters questions, a State Department spokesperson did not comment directly on whether there had been discussions with Israel about a US-led provisional authority in Gaza, saying they could not speak to ongoing negotiations.

“We want peace, and the immediate release of the hostages,” the spokesperson said, adding that: “The pillars of our approach remain resolute: stand with Israel, stand for peace.”

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment.

According to Reuters, a US-led provisional authority in Gaza would draw Washington deeper into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mark its biggest Middle East intervention since the Iraq invasion.

Such a move would carry significant risks of a backlash from both allies and adversaries in the Middle East, if Washington were perceived as an occupying power in Gaza, two of the sources said.

Israel's leadership, including Netanyahu, firmly rejects any role in Gaza for the Palestinian Authority, which it accuses of being anti-Israeli. Netanyahu also opposes Palestinian sovereignty.

Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would expand its attacks in Gaza and that more Gazans would be moved “for their own safety.”

Israel is still seeking to recover 59 hostages being held in the enclave. Its offensive has so far killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health ministry data.

Some members of Netanyahu's right-coalition have called publicly for what they describe as the “voluntary” mass migration of Palestinians from Gaza and for the reconstruction of Jewish settlements inside the coastal enclave.

But behind closed doors, some Israeli officials have also been weighing proposals over the future of Gaza that sources say assumes that there won't be a mass exodus of Palestinians from Gaza, such as the US-led provisional administration.

Among those include restricting reconstruction to designated security zones, dividing the territory and establishing permanent military bases, said four sources, who include foreign diplomats and former Israeli officials briefed on the proposals.



Lebanon Ready for Syria Pact to Repatriate Non-Terror Convicts

Lebanon’s Justice Minister Adel Nassar (NNA)
Lebanon’s Justice Minister Adel Nassar (NNA)
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Lebanon Ready for Syria Pact to Repatriate Non-Terror Convicts

Lebanon’s Justice Minister Adel Nassar (NNA)
Lebanon’s Justice Minister Adel Nassar (NNA)

Lebanon’s Justice Minister Adel Nassar said Beirut had received no warnings from Damascus about potential retaliatory measures to push for the release of Syrian detainees held in Lebanese prisons, dismissing any talk of escalation as unnecessary.

“There’s no need for escalation. We’re fully open to resolving this issue through direct dialogue and a formal treaty with the Syrian authorities, one that allows the transfer of Syrian convicts, except those sentenced for killing Lebanese soldiers or for terrorism charges,” Nassar told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Nassar revealed that his ministry had already prepared a draft agreement aimed at moving the stalled file forward, stressing that resolving the issue is in Lebanon’s interest as much as Syria’s.

“This would ease the severe overcrowding in our prisons,” he said. “We’re determined to take every step in full compliance with Lebanese law and judicial procedures.”

According to Nassar, some 1,700 Syrians are currently detained in Lebanon, including 389 with final verdicts. The rest are still on trial.

“Their treatment is identical to that of Lebanese inmates,” he added. “We’re holding court sessions directly at Roumieh prison to address logistical constraints, and there’s also an intention to do the same for the military court.”

Addressing the recent Cabinet appointment of Maher Shaito as financial public prosecutor, a move widely seen as a win for the minister after rejecting a nominee backed by the Hezbollah-Amal alliance, Nassar insisted the process was purely institutional.

“This was a victory for state institutions. I can’t nominate someone I don’t believe is qualified,” he said. “After consulting senior judges and the head of the Higher Judicial Council, it was clear there was consensus around Shaito due to his credentials and track record.”

He stressed that the appointment involved “no deals or political bartering,” adding that while he found Judge Ziad Hamadeh unsuitable for that specific post, “I never said he was unfit for another position.”

Nassar described his meeting Saturday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as “positive,” saying Berri expressed support for the minister’s efforts under the principle of judicial independence.

On long-awaited judicial appointments, Nassar said the Judicial Council was working “around the clock” and had promised to complete the file by the end of the month. “Some 600 names are currently under consideration,” he noted.

As Lebanon approaches the fifth anniversary of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, Nassar said he would not interfere with the timeline of investigative judge Tarek Bitar, who is handling the politically sensitive case.

“Judge Bitar is continuing his probe, and I’m offering full cooperation within the limits of my authority, especially when it comes to securing information from abroad,” he said. “We won’t allow any obstruction of his work.”

Nassar said the timing of the indictment “depends on whether he receives the answers to all his questions,” adding: “There’s no legal deadline obliging him to issue a ruling by a specific date.”

Responding to reports that he and other ministers had objected to certain appointments during the last Cabinet session, Nassar confirmed his opposition to the newly named Banking Control Commission, saying ministers had not been briefed beforehand.

He also voiced strong objection to linking the disarmament of Hezbollah to any other file.

“I told Cabinet and President Joseph Aoun that the issue of arms must not be conditional. I believe in the exclusive right of the state to bear arms - there can be no functioning state otherwise,” he said.

Nassar added that Aoun had promised to refer any final document related to the ongoing US-mediated talks on the weapons issue back to the Cabinet for discussion.