Israel recently unofficially asked that the Palestinian Authority run the Rafah crossing in Gaza, defense sources have told the Jerusalem Post.
The report first emerged from an Axios report Monday night, which referred to a mix of Israeli, American, and Palestinian Authority officials.
The proposal was the first invitation Israel has extended to the Palestinian Authority to join or facilitate issues relating to the war.
Egypt has halted sending aid through the Rafah Crossing and has promised to continue delaying aid until Israeli forces withdraw from the Palestinian side of Rafah. Given the repeated warnings from the United Nations and other international bodies, the threat of withheld aid has placed significantly more pressure on the precarious humanitarian situation in the enclave.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a Sunday night phone call that Israel is open to many solutions for the Rafah crossing except for a return of Hamas. Another senior official reported that the Israeli government was seeking to bring in Palestinian leadership who were unconnected to Hamas to help manage the site.
Officials from all three groups reported that the condition on bringing in PA control would involve the caveat that they identify themselves as a local aid committee and not an extension of the PA.
The condition upset PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who said they would not agree to fulfill this role undercover.
As a secondary issue, the PA also demanded that Israel release Palestinian tax revenues, which have been withheld for several months by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, as retaliation for the PA pushing the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials for alleged war crimes.