Read the plan and the weekend together.
Point 15 of the 20-point proposal: 'The United States will work with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) to immediately deploy in Gaza. The ISF will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza.' Point 16: 'Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza' [1].
On July 25, an Israeli strike on Sheikh Radwan north of Gaza City killed Brig. Gen. Abdel-Nasser al-Maqadma, head of police in northern Gaza and governor of the region. The Israeli army said he had been a member of Hamas's military wing [2].
On July 26, a strike on a vehicle in Deir al-Balah killed Col. Wael Musa al-Ladawi, head of Hamas's internal security service in central Gaza, along with Ramez Tawfiq Abu Zureiq [2]. The same day, the Israeli security cabinet approved the legal measures for the force [3].
Gaza's interior ministry - a party to the conflict, and to be read as one - says 53 police personnel have been killed in direct Israeli attacks since the October ceasefire, within more than 1,180 Palestinians killed overall in that period, against four Israeli soldiers. It says the police are being targeted 'with the aim of spreading chaos' [2].
The approval is narrower than the word 'force' suggests, and the details are on the record. About 200 personnel. Legal immunity under Israel's Immunities of International Organizations Law. Operating 'in full coordination with the IDF,' only outside IDF-controlled areas. Entry requires sign-off from three officials - Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar - and the decision explicitly 'does not authorize the immediate deployment of the force' [3].
Itamar Ben Gvir voted against; Sa'ar in favour. Israel also maintains the army will hold the Yellow Line with no further withdrawal until Hamas is completely disarmed [3] - which sits against point 16's withdrawal 'based on standards, milestones, and timeframes' [1].
None of this establishes that the strikes were aimed at the police as an institution rather than at named individuals the army identifies as Hamas. Both men were described by Israel as Hamas figures, and this newsroom cannot adjudicate that.
What is documented is the sequence: the force whose written job is to train Gaza's police was approved in the same 48 hours that two of that police force's senior commanders were killed - and it cannot enter without the approval of the government that killed them.
