As the Israel Defense Forces expands its ground operations in Gaza—with three divisions operating in the north, center and south of the Strip—and the Hamas political regime as well as the terror army are systematically targeted, the question of direct control over humanitarian aid distribution is once again becoming paramount.
On Thursday, the IDF Spokesperson to the international media, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said that most Palestinian civilians in southern Gaza’s Rafah area had complied with evacuation calls and left.
“This is part of our operations and has been part of our operations for many, many months. We have gone to great lengths to make sure that civilians are out of harm’s way, ensuring that we are fighting Hamas, not fighting the people of Gaza. Whether it’s informing them through messages, flyers, announcements on social media, or by our Arabic spokesperson, and so on,” Shoshani stated.
“Currently, in Rafah, I can tell you that the majority of civilians have evacuated,” he said. “Our goal, eventually, is to have an area where we can fight Hamas—where we can fight terrorists without them hiding behind civilians, without having any civilians in the line of fire. The first time around in Rafah was, in that regard, very successful, relatively, in making sure we can fight Hamas and not civilians. Again, this is part of our goal: to fight Hamas and to make sure that we do this in an accurate way that is against terror and not against civilians.”
Seizing corridors like the recently secured Morag Route, in southern Gaza, and the Netzarim Corridor separating northern Gaza from the rest of the Strip enables the IDF to separate civilians from terrorists and control movement, Shoshani told journalists on a conference call.
Some observers have called on Israel to assume temporary control over the aid-distribution process, particularly in the central-southern humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi, and to create an additional “humanitarian bubble” where only vetted Gazan civilians will be permitted to enter for access to aid.
This would undermine Hamas’s pattern of hijacking the aid, often at gunpoint, using it to feed and fuel its terror operatives, and monopolizing distribution to cement its status as the relevant ruler of Gaza—a pattern that has been in place since the start of the current war.
Currently, the IDF is in the process of issuing mass evacuation calls to civilians in Gaza to strip away Hamas’s hiding behind human shields and to move them away from combat zones.
‘Without control, you lose all your levers’
On March 31, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, issued a public directive calling on residents of Rafah and its surrounding neighborhoods, including Al-Natzar, Al-Shouka, Al-Salam and Al-Manara, to “evacuate to the humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi immediately,” in the largest evacuation call since the war resumed on March 18.
On April 2, a similar warning was issued to residents in Beit Hanun and the Jabalia Camp in northern Gaza, ordering them to flee westward. As Israel once again seeks to funnel Palestinian civilians away from active combat zones and into designated containment areas, the question of whether it will take over civilian aid distribution becomes inevitable.
Al-Mawasi, once a sleepy coastal village, has been transformed since 2024 into a hub for hundreds of Gazan civilians. Hamas has periodically used the area as well to try and evade Israeli surveillance and airstrikes, unsuccessfully. Hamas military-wing commander Muhammad Deif was killed in an airstrike at Al-Mawasi on July 13, 2024, together with Hamas’s Khan Yunis Brigade commander Rafa Salama.
Prof. Col. (res.) Gabi Siboni, senior research fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Security and Strategy and a consultant to the Israel Defense Forces, emphasized in a podcast released on Wednesday that the failure to address the civilian dimension in Gaza has severely compromised Israel’s military objectives. “The chief of staff who led this work in the IDF, the previous chief of staff, [Lt. Gen.] Herzi Halevi, … insisted and stood on his hind legs that we would not deal with the civilian issue, that the IDF would not deal with the civilian issue … and it actually eroded all the credit that the army received from the state,” Siboni said.
He described this reluctance as a serious mistake.
Siboni called for immediate structural reforms, declaring that “the Southern Command should have established a command that deals with the civilian issue, the civilian treatment and the civilian response, which will deal with the control of humanitarian aid that will prevent Hamas from taking over it.” He stressed that military success requires integrated control, consisting of control over territory, mopping up operations against terrorist enemy forces, and then control.
“Without control, you lose all your ability, all your levers,” said Siboni.
‘Third aspect of military doctrine: control’
Professor Kobi Michael, senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and former head of the Palestinian desk at Israel’s Ministry for Strategic Affairs, agreed. “The control of the civilian population according to the principles of international law in time of war must be the control of the military commander,” he said.
According to Michael, the current hybrid structure involving the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories Unit, which belongs to the Israeli Ministry of Defense but is staffed by soldiers, remains untenable.
“This entire entity called COGAT has to undergo a process of [becoming] a civilian entity, and subordination to the Ministry of Defense. It should not be part of the army,” he argued.
During wartime, Michael said, there must be a clear distinction between an IDF military government and the Civil Administration [a part of COGAT]. In our writings and comments, when we discuss the need for a military government as a need, it is as an organizational expression of the third aspect of military doctrine: control [over territory].”
He pointed to decades of blurring between political and military spheres, noting this confusion compromises Israel’s ability to execute military and humanitarian functions independently and effectively.
As such, the Israeli Cabinet will soon need to decide whether it will order the IDF or American contractors under IDF security to take over aid distribution at Al-Mawasi, as well as at additional “humanitarian bubbles” in places like Gaza City.
Lt. Col. (res.) Shaul Bartal, a senior research fellow at the Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies who served extensively in various security capacities in Judea and Samaria, told JNS that Israel does not officially rule out a military administration in Gaza. “The political echelon has made it repeatedly clear that this option, at least a temporary military rule, is on the table. It seems that the main reason that is preventing this is fear for the lives of hostages.”
He added that a military administration would require that Israel retake all of Gaza and maintain responsibility for its reconstruction.
Regarding Hamas’s response to such a development, Bartal explained: “Hamas has eliminated so far every [Gazan] resistance to its rule. The demonstrations against Hamas calmed down after it executed the organizers of the protests. Clan heads in Gaza, which Israel tried to use to activate civilian elements, were killed. In actuality, all influential elements that cooperate with Israel, certainly in regards to a military administration, would be killed. The only way for Israel to activate a military administration is to fully occupy the territory and set up a military administration, similar to what existed between 1967 to 1994.”
Hamas is badly wounded, Bartal assessed, and its commanders are in hiding. “In the eyes of Hamas, its survival as a ruling element is its victory. Hence, Hamas will continue to fight the IDF and kill any element that cooperates with Israel.”
He added that setting up a military administration would require significant budgets and personnel, as well as the division of Gaza into provinces such as Rafah, Gaza City, Khan Yunis, central camps and Beit Hanun. Israel would presumably safeguard its security perimeter within Gaza, he said.
Bartal pointed out that regarding Al-Mawasi and its designation as a humanitarian zone free of terrorists, “this is a question of security policy. Israel certainly wants to define security zones in the Gaza Strip.”
Demonstrators chant ‘Hamas out!’
Meanwhile, sections of Gaza’s population are increasingly reflecting their recognition that Hamas has lost the war and have signaled their impatience with Hamas’s leadership, calling on them to end the conflict and to give up control of the Strip.
On March 25, mass protests erupted in Beit Lahia and spread to Jabalia and Khan Yunis, with demonstrators chanting “Hamas out” and “Enough death.” Hamas later retaliated with the killing of Oudai Rabei, a civilian in Gaza who was reportedly tortured to death by Hamas after participating in the protests.
On April 1, according to multiple reports, members of the Abu Samra clan executed a Hamas member in broad daylight, after one of the clan’s members—Abdulrahman Sha’aban Abu Samra—was shot dead by Hamas flour distribution point in Deir al-Balah. The execution of the Hamas member, who the clan said was responsible for their relative’s murder, was filmed and widely circulated on Palestinian social media. Hamas condemned the act.
The terrorist organization’s documented theft of humanitarian aid, monopoly of distribution and control over goods managed by the United Nations has enabled its regime and terror army to survive the war until now.
Whether Israel is positioning itself for long-term civilian administration will now be a critical question.