More than seven months into Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, the lack of a viable plan for the future governance of the enclave has now shifted into sharper focus.

Since the war began, prompted by Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack in which 1,163 people were killed and around 250 kidnapped by Hamas militants, Israel has categorically ruled out any governing role for Hamas after the conflict ends.

In turn, Hamas has also frequently rejected any form of Israeli administration in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh repeated in a televised speech that Hamas was in Gaza "to stay."

Hamas, a militant Islamist group, is categorized as a terror organization by Israel, the US, the EU and many others.

The deadlock has been made even more complicated by regional Arab neighbors insisting that their involvement, either in the future governance of or the financing of reconstruction in the war-battered Gaza Strip, depends on the presence of a workable path towards a two-state solution.

Yet, the two-state solution, which would see a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, has been ruled out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed Hamas' October 7 attack will not be rewarded by granting the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

"There is no common ground," Yohanan Tzoreff, senior researcher at the Tel Aviv Institute for National Security Studies and an expert on Israeli-Palestinian relations, told DW.

"All attempts to find compromises have failed so far," Tzoreff said, adding, "the current Israeli government will not accept the idea of a two-state solution, only elections could change this."

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© Deutsche Welle