Defense Minister Israel Katz told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting Tuesday that the IDF has been ordered to prepare for a potential war with the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria. Katz described a "short and forceful" campaign involving ground and air forces, the destruction of terror infrastructure, and the evacuation of residents, modeled on operations in Gaza and Lebanon. He emphasized the scenario would be triggered if PA security forces or the Tanzim organization turn their guns on Israeli residents and troops.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday provided the most detailed public account yet of the IDF's contingency planning for a potential war with the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria. Briefing ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting, Katz said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approved a comprehensive operational plan for a "short and forceful" campaign modeled on Israel's operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
Katz listed the triggers for such a war: the PA security forces or the affiliated Tanzim organization turning their weapons on Israeli residents and IDF troops. The campaign, he said, would include "ground and air forces, special means, the elimination and expulsion of senior officials, destruction of weapons, and large-scale evacuation of residents and destruction of terror infrastructure inside cities and refugee camps."
The remarks come amid a series of readiness directives from Katz. As The Zioneer reported earlier Tuesday, he ordered the IDF to its highest alert level in Gaza ahead of the October 7 anniversary, warning of a response "beyond all proportion" if Israeli forces are targeted there. In September, Katz directed the IDF to prepare for all-out war against the PA after a stabbing attack in Samaria, a move The Zioneer covered at the time.
The statement highlights a growing gap between the defense establishment's longstanding view of PA President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces as a stabilizing partner and the current government's more confrontational stance. Katz's description of a "reference scenario" that would be triggered only by specific PA actions leaves room for diplomatic alternatives, but the detailed planning signals that Israel is treating the possibility with increasing seriousness.
Katz last month threatened "full-scale war" against the PA if it prepared an attack similar to the October 7 massacre, according to the same briefing.
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