Israel plans to capture all of Gaza and move ‘most of the population’, officials say

Israel approved plans on Monday to capture all of Gaza and remain in the territory for an unspecified amount of time, two Israeli officials said. The plan includes “moving most of the population” of the Palestinian territory, the Israeli army said. It is a move that, if implemented, would vastly expand Israel’s operations in the Palestinian territory and be likely to bring fierce international opposition. “The operation will include a broad attack, including moving most of the population of the Gaza Strip. This is in order to protect them in a sterile area away from Hamas,” army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said. Israeli cabinet ministers approved the plan in an early morning vote, hours after the Israeli military chief said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers. Officials said the plan was meant to help Israel achieve its war aims of defeating Hamas and freeing hostages held in Gaza. Moving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza would be likely to exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis. Since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in mid-March, Israel has unleashed fierce strikes on the territory that have killed hundreds. It has captured swathes of territory and now controls roughly 50 per cent of Gaza. Before the truce ended, Israel halted all humanitarian aid into Gaza, including food, fuel and water, setting off what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war. The ban on aid has prompted widespread hunger and shortages have set off looting. The Israeli officials said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”. The plan would also seek to prevent the militant Hamas group from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel has said strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza. It has also accused Hamas of keeping the aid for itself to bolsters its capabilities. The plan also included powerful strikes against Hamas targets, the officials said. The officials said Israel was in touch with several countries about US President Donald Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and relocate its population, under what Israel has termed “voluntary emigration” yet which has sparked condemnations from Israel’s allies in Europe and the Arab world. One of the officials said the plan would be implemented gradually. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing military plans. For weeks, Israel has been trying to ratchet up pressure on Hamas and prompt it to show more flexibility in ceasefire negotiations. But international mediators trying to bring the sides toward a new deal have struggled to do so. Israel’s measures do not appear to have moved Hamas away from its negotiating positions. The previous ceasefire was meant to lead the sides to negotiate an end to the war, but that goal has been a repeated sticking point in talks between Israel and Hamas. Israel has said it would not agree to end the war until Hamas was defeated. Hamas meanwhile has demanded an agreement that winds down the war. The Israeli officials did not disclose details on how the plan seeks to prevent Hamas from involvement in aid distribution. One said the ministers had approved “the option of aid distribution”, without elaborating. According to an internal memo circulated among aid groups and seen by Associated Press, Israel told the United Nations that it would use private security companies to control aid distribution in Gaza. The UN, in a statement on Sunday, said it would not take part in the plan as presented to it, saying it violates its core principles. The memo, sent to aid organisations on Sunday, detailed notes from a meeting between the Israeli defence body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and the UN. Under COGAT’s plan, all aid would enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, letting around 60 trucks enter daily and distributing 20kg of aid parcels directly to people on the day of entry, although their contents were unclear as was how many people would have access to the aid. The memo said the aid would be distributed at logistics hubs, which would be run by private security companies. The memo said that facial recognition would be used to identify Palestinians at the hubs, and SMS alerts would notify people in the area that they could collect aid. The UN said the plan would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies. It said the plan “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”. The memo says that the US government has voiced clear support for Israel’s plan, but was unclear who would provide funding for the private military companies or the aid. COGAT and the US embassy in Jerusalem did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier this week, Associated Press obtained dozens of documents about aid groups’ concerns that the hubs could end up permanently displacing Palestinians and forcing them to live in “de facto internment conditions”. Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

Israel plans to capture all of Gaza and move ‘most of the population’, officials say

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Israeli ministers approved plan in an early morning vote, hours after military announced it was calling up tens of thousands of reservists

Israeli ministers approved plan in an early morning vote, hours after military announced it was calling up tens of thousands of reservists