Jerusalem, Undefined – AFP

Israel’s defence minister has publicly presented for the first time proposals for the post-war administration of Gaza, where officials said Friday unrelenting bombardment killed dozens over 24 hours.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s plan for the “day after”, shared with the media late Thursday but not yet adopted by Israel’s war cabinet, says that neither Israel nor Hamas will govern Gaza and rejects future Jewish settlements there.

Questions over the future of the besieged Palestinian territory have multiplied as Israel insists it will continue with its military operations despite international calls for a ceasefire.

Much of the Gaza Strip has been reduced to rubble, while civilian deaths have soared and the UN has warned of a humanitarian crisis that has left hundreds of thousands displaced, facing famine and disease.

Bombing continued through the night in the southern areas of Khan Yunis and Rafah as well as parts of central Gaza, according to AFP correspondents.

The Israeli army said its forces had “struck over 100 targets” across Gaza over the past 24 hours, including military positions, rocket launch sites and weapons depots.

The health ministry in Gaza said it had recorded 162 deaths over the past 24 hours.

A fighter jet hit the central area of Bureij overnight, killing “an armed terrorist cell”, the army said, after what it described in a statement as an attempted attack on an Israeli tank.

And “a number” of Palestinian militants were killed in clashes in Khan Yunis, a major city in southern Gaza that has become the focus of the fighting, the army said.

According to Gallant’s proposed outline, the war will continue until Israel has dismantled Hamas’s “military and governing capabilities” and secured the return of hostages.

After Israel achieves its objectives — for which the proposal sets no timeline — Palestinian “civil committees” will begin assuming control of the territory’s governance, it said.

“Hamas will not govern Gaza, (and) Israel will not govern Gaza’s civilians,” the plan said, while offering little concrete detail.

“Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel.”