Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a plan for a post-Hamas Gaza — assuming that every single Hamas fighter can be hunted down and eliminated.

The plan comes as Israel sent a negotiating team, led by Mossad Director David Barnea, to Paris on Friday to pursue talks over a potential ceasefire and hostage release deal that may put an end to the four-month long war.

More than 29,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the ministry of health in the enclave. Hamas’ October 7 attack killed 1,200 people in Israel, according to Israeli authorities.    

If there is nothing else that clearly illustrates the clash of civilizations in which the world is embroiled today, it is that October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas, the utter savagery of that attack, the war crimes, and the shocking willingness of Hamas fighters to burn, rape, and murder.

It is belaboring the obvious to note that there cannot be a path forward in Gaza that does not include the terms "post-Hamas," which can only mean every single Hamas fighter has been hunted down and captured or killed.

See Related: Israel Issues Ultimatum to Hamas: Release Hostages or Suffer the Consequences

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On the security file, the envisioned plan includes Israel closing off Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, giving Israel complete control of entry and exit from the enclave. At present, Egypt controls access to and from Gaza’s southern border via the Rafah crossing.

Netanyahu’s plan says Israel will cooperate “as much as possible” with Egypt, in coordination with the United States.

It is not clear whether Israel has obtained Egypt’s sign-off on that element of the plan, or any part of it. But an Israeli official told CNN that the plan was “aligned” with the US.

There has been no immediate official US reaction to the proposal.

Egypt has already clamped down on its border with Gaza.

Hamas is, of course, only one source of worry for Israel. In Lebanon, Hezbollah still squats, threatening Israel like a giant predatory toad. Islamist militias roam Iraq and Jordan. And the elephant in this dry, dusty room remains, as it has since 1979, Iran, that nation ruled by madmen which has the destruction of Israel as a matter of public policy, and which is working to develop nuclear weapons.

It's good that PM Netanyahu and Israel are planning for a peaceful, controlled Gaza. But Hamas has to be removed first; Gaza will never be a controlled, peaceful place until, as the euphemism goes, Hamas is no longer a factor — in other words until every single Hamas terrorist is captured or dead.

This will leave Israel to contend only with Hezbollah, the various Iran-backed Islamist militias, all of the neighbors who want Israel pushed into the sea, with Iran, and even with feckless American politicians who run hot and cold, with no detectable logic behind the sudden changes.

Defeating Hamas, to paraphrase the great Winston Churchill, will not be the end of Israel's struggle to exist. It will not even be the beginning of the end. It might, however, be the end of the beginning.