An impasse over governance in the Gaza Strip will embolden Israel to conduct additional low-intensity military operations and gradually expand its control in the strip, keeping the door open for a larger offensive ahead of Israeli elections in the fall. On July 8, an unnamed U.S.-led Board of Peace official said the organization was planning a pilot humanitarian zone that could host tens of thousands of Gazans in southern Gaza in order to increase deliveries of humanitarian aid. Gazans would enter voluntarily and be vetted by a U.S.-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which would also be responsible for governing the zone. Security would be provided by a trained police force in conjunction with the multinational, U.N.-backed International Stabilization Forces (ISF). The official's statement came after Hamas on July 6 announced the dissolution of the Gaza Emergency Committee -- the administrative body tasked...
