An aid worker living in northern Gaza City claims innocent locals “say it’s better to die than to leave”, knowing what awaits others when they follow Israeli evacuation orders
Benjamin Netanyahu is considering emptying northern Gaza of all civilians and cutting off aid to anyone left inside in a desperate bid to starve out Hamas that could trap thousands of innocent Palestinians without food or water.
The Israeli Prime Minister has reportedly “read and studied” the plan to root out the militants as its now year-long war against the organisation drums on, with 97 hostages still unaccounted for. Israeli action has so far killed 42,979 people in Palestinian territories, and led to accusations of war crimes, and the latest considerations have only sparked further controversy.
The plan, proposed to Netanyahu and the Israeli parliament by a group of retired generals, would give Palestinians a week to leave the northern third of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, before declaring it a closed military zone. Israel would consider anyone who remains in the area – including those unable to flee or unwilling to give up their homes – an active combatant.
The designation would mean military regulations allow Israeli troops to kill them, deny them food and water, medicine and fuel. The plan’s chief architect claimed while presenting the document to the Associated Press that it is the only way to break Hamas in the north and pressure it to release the remaining hostages.
Once carried out, the plan calls for Israel to wrest control of the north for an indefinite period and create a new administration without Hamas, splitting the Gaza Strip into two territories. Israel’s government has not decided to carry out the so-called “Generals’ Plan” and it is unclear how strongly it’s being considered, with officials denying they have received it at all.
Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told the AP: “We have not received a plan like that.” But one official with knowledge of the matter said parts of the plan are already being implemented, without specifying which parts. A second official, who is Israeli, said Netanyahu “had read and studied” the plan, “like many plans that have reached him throughout the war”.
But didn’t say whether any of it had been adopted. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, as the plan isn’t supposed to be discussed publicly. While officials have also denied that recent evacuation orders issued in nothern Gaza are anything to do with the proposals, Israeli NGOs have warned of “alarming signs that the Israeli military is beginning to quietly implement” the plan.
Responses to Israeli evacuation orders have suggested that any bid to clear a large area of civilians would leave thousands of innocents behind. Many people have been unable to leave evacuation zones as they are older, sick or afraid to leave, with others fearing there’s nowhere safe to go and that they will never be allowed back.
Israel has prevented those who fled earlier in the war from returning. Jomana Elkhalili, a 26-year-old Palestinian aid worker for Oxfam living in Gaza City with her family, said: “All Gazans are afraid of the plan. Still, they will not flee. They will not make the mistake again… We know the place there is not safe.”
Ms Elkhalili was referring to southern Gaza, where most of the population is huddled in dismal tent camps and airstrikes often hit shelters. She added: “That’s why people in the north say it’s better to die than to leave.”
