The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that the army is studying a plan to displace the remaining Palestinians in northern Gaza, with the aim of tightening the noose on the resistance there and forcing it to face the choice of death or surrender.
According to the newspaper’s political correspondent Itamar Eichner, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a strategic discussion and brainstorming session yesterday with army officials in order to achieve progress in the war on Gaza, in light of the continued stumbling of the prisoner swap negotiations.
He said that the discussion dealt with “the prisoner exchange deal, and the pressure factors that Israel is interested in employing in order to achieve the best gains and increase pressure on Hamas, and impose a price on it due to the death of the six hostages it had in its possession in the past days, including increasing the intensity and severity of attacks against it on the grounds that this might bring it back to the negotiating table.”
The correspondent confirmed that “the discussion raised the possibility that the army would have to prepare the fourth stage of its three-stage plan in Gaza, as the current (third) stage of fighting focuses on repeated raids on Hamas fighters and infrastructure, and another stage is now being considered, which is essentially expelling the population from the northern Gaza Strip and then besieging the fighters.”
surrender or die
The newspaper’s correspondent said that this stage is reminiscent of the proposal revealed by dozens of senior reserve officers, led by reserve Major General Giora Eiland (former head of the Security Council) – this week – which was called the “Generals’ Plan” and called for “turning the entire area north of the Netzarim corridor, meaning Gaza City and all its neighborhoods, into a closed military zone.”
In other words, the entire population of the area, estimated at around 300,000 people according to the Israeli military, “will be forced to leave immediately through safe corridors designated by the military.”
According to this plan, “the Palestinians are given a week to evacuate their homes after imposing a complete military siege on the area, which will leave the fighters with two options: either death or surrender.”
The plan’s initiators claim that it “complies with the rules of international law, because it allows residents to evacuate the combat zone before imposing a siege.”
The Israeli aggression on Gaza has caused the displacement of about one million Palestinians from the north of the Strip to the south, and the issue of their return to their homes is one of the hot points on the agenda of prisoner exchange negotiations between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel.
Escalation in the North
The newspaper’s political correspondent stated that the discussions also touched on the northern front, the issue of the next day in Gaza, and the contacts that Israel is conducting with Arab and non-Arab countries in this regard.
He also said, “Given the dead end that the negotiations have reached, there is concern in Israel about escalation on several fronts.”
“The eyes of the war establishment are constantly directed north,” he added, as Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi visited the border with Syria in the Golan Heights yesterday, saying “the army is very focused” on fighting Hezbollah.
