(Jerusalem) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is studying a plan to block humanitarian aid in northern Gaza in an attempt to starve Hamas members. If this plan is implemented, it could trap hundreds of thousands of Palestinians without food or water who are unwilling or unable to leave their homes.
Israel has issued numerous evacuation orders for the north throughout the year-long war, the most recent being Sunday’s. The plan proposed to Mr. Netanyahu and the Israeli parliament by a group of retired generals would increase pressure, giving the Palestinians a week to leave the northern third of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, before declaring that closed military zone.
Those who remained would be considered combatants – meaning military regulations would allow troops to kill them – and would be denied food, water, medicine and fuel, according to a copy of the plan provided to the Associated Press (AP) by its chief architect, who says the plan is the only way to break Hamas in the north and pressure it to release the remaining hostages.
The plan calls for Israel to maintain control of the north for an indefinite period to try to create a new administration without Hamas, dividing the Gaza Strip in two.
The government has not yet decided to fully implement the so-called “Generals’ Plan”, and it is unclear to what extent it plans to do so.
Already implemented?
An official familiar with the matter said parts of the plan were already being implemented, without specifying which parts. A second official, who is Israeli, said Mr. Netanyahu “read and studied” the plan, “like many plans that came to him throughout the war,” but did not specify whether any any of these parts had been adopted. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan is not expected to be discussed publicly.
PHOTO OMAR AL-QATTAA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Palestinians carry their belongings as they flee areas north of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, October 12, 2024.
On Sunday, Israel launched an offensive against Hamas fighters in the Jabalia refugee camp, north of the city.
No trucks of food, water or medicine have entered the north since September 30, according to the UN and the website of the Israeli military agency that oversees humanitarian aid crossing points.
The State Department spokesperson said the United States opposed any plan that would result in a direct Israeli occupation of Gaza.
Human rights groups say the plan would likely starve civilians and goes against international law, which prohibits the use of food as a weapon and forcible transfers. Accusations that Israel intentionally limits food to Gaza are at the heart of the genocide case brought against it at the International Court of Justice. Israel denies the accusations.
So far, very few Palestinians have heeded the latest evacuation order. Some are old, sick or afraid to leave their homes, but many fear they will have nowhere safe to go and will never be allowed back. Israel has prevented those who fled earlier in the war from returning.
“All Gazans are afraid of the plan,” said Jomana Elkhalili, a 26-year-old Palestinian aid worker working for Oxfam and living in Gaza with her family.
“They won’t run away. They won’t make the same mistake […] We know this place is not safe,” she said, referring to southern Gaza, where most of the population is huddled in dreary tent camps and airstrikes often hit shelters.
“That’s why people from the north say it’s better to die than to leave. »
The plan emerged as Hamas showed its enduring strength, firing rockets into Tel Aviv and regrouping in some areas after Israeli troops withdrew, provoking repeated offensives.
After a year of devastating war with Hamas, Israel has far fewer ground troops in Gaza than a few months ago and in recent weeks it has turned its attention to Hezbollah, launching an invasion of southern Lebanon. There is no sign of progress toward a ceasefire on either front.
The Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half of the dead are women and children.
“Surrender or Starve”
The plan was presented to parliament last month by a group of retired generals and high-ranking officers. Since then, officials in the prime minister’s office have been calling for more details, according to its chief architect of that strategy, Giora Eiland, former head of the National Security Council.
Israeli media reported that Netanyahu told a closed session of the parliamentary defense committee that he was studying the plan.
General Eiland says the only way to stop Hamas and end the year-long war is to prevent its access to aid.
They will either have to surrender or starve. This doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to kill everyone. This will not be necessary. People won’t be able to live there [dans le nord]. The water will dry up.
Giora Eiland, chief architect of the plan
But not everyone agrees. “I’m particularly concerned about how the plan seems to say that if the population is given the opportunity to evacuate and they don’t, then one way or another they will all turn into military targets legitimate, which is absolutely not the case,” said Tania Hary, executive director of Gisha, an Israeli organization dedicated to protecting the right of Palestinians to move freely in Gaza.
The copy of the plan shared with AP indicates that if the strategy succeeds in northern Gaza, it could then be replicated in other areas, including tent camps further south housing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Asked about the plan Wednesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States would “make clear that it is not just the United States that opposes any occupation of Gaza.” , to any reduction in the size of Gaza, but that this is the almost unanimous opinion of the international community.
The north, including Gaza City, was the first target of the Israeli ground offensive at the start of the war, when the country ordered all residents to leave. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble since then.
A UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said only about 100 Palestinians had fled the north since Sunday.
“At least 400,000 people are trapped in the area,” wrote Philippe Lazzarini, director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, on X on Thursday.
Troops have already cut off roads between Gaza City and areas further north, making it difficult for residents to flee, said two doctors working in the far north – Mohammed Salha, director of al-Awda hospital , and the Dr Rana Soloh, from Kamal Adwan Hospital. “With almost no basic supplies available, hunger is spreading. »
“Northern Gaza is now divided into two parts,” Soloh said. There are checkpoints and inspections, and not everyone can cross easily. »
Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.