Israel Pushes Back in Rare Split After U.S. Names Turkey, Qatar in Gaza Governance Plan

Israel issued an unusually sharp public response on Saturday after the Trump administration unveiled the membership of new bodies that will oversee Gaza under Phase Two of its postwar plan, objecting in particular to the inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in the governance framework.

In a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office, Benjamin Netanyahu said the announcement “was not coordinated with Israel and is contrary to its policy.” The statement added that Netanyahu instructed Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to raise Israel’s objections directly with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The backlash followed the White House’s publication of the full membership of the Gaza Executive Board, a body intended to help implement reconstruction and governance in the enclave. The board includes senior officials from Turkey and Qatar, alongside representatives from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the United Nations, and the United States.

Israeli officials said their objections relate both to the decision itself and the way it was made. Publicly, Jerusalem has stressed that it was not informed in advance about the final composition of the executive body. U.S. officials, cited in Israeli media, have offered differing accounts about whether Israel was briefed beforehand, highlighting a rare and visible disagreement between the two countries.

At the heart of Israel’s rejection is its view of Turkey and Qatar as longtime political and financial backers of Hamas rather than neutral actors. Israeli officials argue that allowing states seen as having enabled Hamas’s survival before the October 7 massacre to take part in Gaza’s postwar governance sends a dangerous signal. In Israel’s view, it risks rewarding Hamas after the deadliest attack in Israel’s history and recreating conditions in which Hamas could survive behind the scenes even if formally removed from power.

Israel has already opposed any Turkish role in Gaza’s future security arrangements, including participation in a multinational stabilization force. The concern now, officials say, is that governance roles would still grant Turkey and Qatar influence over Gaza’s political and economic future, potentially constraining Israel’s freedom of action and weakening deterrence across the region.

The criticism was echoed forcefully by senior ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition. Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of transforming Turkey into a hostile Islamist state, saying that Erdoğan “turned Turkey from a democracy into a dictatorship” and that “Israel cannot, and will not, accept a Turkish presence on its borders in any form whatsoever.”

 Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that “those who nourished Hamas cannot be those that replace it,” adding that countries that supported the group must not be given “a foothold in Gaza. Period.” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir rejected the governance framework outright, saying, “The Gaza Strip does not need any executive board to oversee its rehabilitation. It needs to be cleared of Hamas terrorists who must be destroyed.” He called on the prime minister to prepare the IDF to return to fighting “with enormous force” if necessary.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett went further. “The entry of Qatar and Turkey into Gaza is a reward for Hamas for the October 7 massacre and a danger to Israel’s security,” Bennett said. “The introduction into Gaza of Qatar and Turkey, supporters and financiers of Hamas, endangers the security of Israel’s citizens and sends a severe message that massacring Jews brings political and military achievements. Soon we will fix this.”