JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reviewing a plan to block humanitarian aid to northern Gaza in an effort to starve Hamas, a plan that, if implemented, could trap people without food or water. hundreds of thousands of Palestinians unwilling or unable to leave. their homes.
Israel has issued numerous evacuation orders to the north throughout this year of war, the most recent being on Sunday. The plan proposed to Netanyahu and the Israeli parliament by a group of retired generals would increase pressure, giving Palestinians a week to leave the northern third of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, before declaring it a military zone closed.
Those who remained would be considered combatants — meaning military regulations would allow troops to kill them — and would be deprived of food, water, medicine and fuel, according to a copy of the plan provided to The Associated Press. Press 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 over the north for an indefinite period in an attempt to create a new administration without Hamas, effectively dividing the Gaza Strip in two.
The government has not made any decisions to fully implement the so-called “Generals’ Plan”, and it is unclear to what extent it is envisaged.
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 Netanyahu “read and studied” the plan, “like many plans that came to him throughout the war,” but did not specify whether any of between them had been adopted. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan is not expected to be discussed publicly.
On Sunday, Israel launched an offensive against Hamas fighters in the Jabaliya 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 crossings.
The State Department spokesperson said the United States was against any plan that would result in direct Israeli occupation of Gaza.
Human rights groups fear plan will harm civilians
Human rights groups say the plan would likely starve civilians and run counter to international law, which prohibits the use of food as a weapon and forcible transfers. Accusations that Israel intentionally restricts food in Gaza are at the heart of the genocide case brought against it at the International Court of Justice, accusations that Israel denies.
So far, very few Palestinians have complied with the latest evacuation order. Some are elderly, sick or afraid to leave their homes, but many fear they will not be able to go anywhere safely and will never be allowed back. Israel has prevented those who fled earlier in the war from returning.
“Everyone in Gaza is afraid of this plan,” said Jomana Elkhalili, a 26-year-old Palestinian Oxfam aid worker living in Gaza City with her family.
“Yet they will not flee. They will not make this mistake again… 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 where airstrikes often hit shelters. “That’s why northerners say it’s better to die than to leave.”
The plan emerged as Hamas showed sustained 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 it did 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 on the ceasefire on either front.
The Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters but says more than half of the dead are women and children.
Northern Gaza residents could be forced to ‘surrender or starve’
The generals’ plan was presented to Parliament last month by a group of retired generals and high-ranking officers, according to publicly available minutes. Since then, officials in the prime minister’s office have called for more details, according to its chief architect, Giora Eiland, a former head of the National Security Council.
Israeli media reported that Netanyahu told a closed session of the parliamentary defense committee that he was considering the plan.
Eiland said the only way to stop Hamas and end a year-long war is to prevent it from accessing aid.
“They will either have to surrender or starve,” Eiland said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to kill everyone,” he said. “That won’t be necessary. People will not be able to live there (in the north). The water will dry up.
He estimates that the siege could force Hamas to release around 100 Israeli hostages still held by the group since the October 7 attack that sparked the Israeli campaign. At least 30 hostages are presumed dead.
Human rights groups are appalled.
“I’m very concerned about the way 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 within Gaza.
The copy of the plan shared with AP says 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 Wednesday about the plan, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States would “make it very 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 they are practically unanimous. the opinion of the international community.
In northern Gaza, aid has dried up and people are stuck
The north, including Gaza City, was the initial target of the Israeli ground offensive at the start of the war, when Israel ordered everyone to leave. Since then, entire neighborhoods have been reduced to ruins.
A senior UN official said no aid, apart from a small shipment of fuel for hospitals, had entered the north since September 30, either through crossings from ‘Israel or southern Gaza. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.
COGAT, the Israeli body that facilitates aid crossings into Gaza, denied that the northern crossings had been closed, but did not respond when asked how many trucks had entered in recent days.
The U.N. official said only about 100 Palestinians had fled the north since Sunday.
“At least 400,000 people are stuck in the area,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote on Thursday. “With almost no supplies of basic goods available, hunger is spreading. »
Troops have already cut off roads between Gaza City and areas further north, making it difficult for people to flee, said two doctors from the far north – Mohammed Salha, director of al-Awda hospital, and the Dr. Rana Soloh, from Kamal Adwan Hospital. .
“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.
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