i want to point out that the israelis are claiming that they want to take over gaza to install a civilian government that is neither hanas nor fatah, and that they are not intending to permanently govern. i was misled by misleading canadian news reports into thinking the latter.

however, i don't think this is possible.

what israel might be able to potentially do is install an israeli puppet state for long enough to set up elections. if this israeli puppet state, with nominal arab leadership under israeli control, can set up a police force and system of taxation, it might be able to salvage something.

however, this will require active suppression. gazan citizens will realize what is going on and fight it, whether they call themselves hamas or fatah or islamic jihad or something else. this will functionally just be a recreation of the ongoing civil war, which is what tel aviv is trying to prevent from happening.

there's not a way to eliminate hamas without removing the entire population and screening it back in and the egyptians need to be taking initiative on it.