Benjamin Netanyahu is considering plans for a siege of northern Gaza, according to Israeli media reports. The strategy would involve forcing out all of the Palestinian civilians in the area, which would then be declared a closed military zone. The area in question – north of the Netzarim corridor, which splits the Gaza strip in two – is estimated to be currently populated by hundreds of thousands of civilians, and includes what was the strip’s largest population center before the war, Gaza City.
The prime minister’s office has not commented on the plan officially, though Israeli media has reported that in a closed-door meeting with the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Netanyahu stated that the plan “makes a lot of sense.” Despite his agreement with the plan, it is still uncertain whether it will eventually be adopted, as an Israeli official with knowledge of the matter stated that “seeing it positively does not mean adopting it.” The unnamed official went on to say that “several alternatives” were also being put in front of the prime minister.
The plan comes from a group of Israeli generals who say that the goal is to use siege tactics to starve the estimated 5,000 Hamas fighters in the area into releasing the 101 remaining hostages believed to be in the area. The generals laid out their plan in a video posted on YouTube last month, promising “food and water” to those who leave, and that “no supplies will enter” the area once the siege begins. Palestinians remain wary of promises of aid, as Israel has severely restricted aid going into Gaza throughout the invasion, and has repeated attacked civilians seeking food at aid distribution sites, most infamously in Gaza City’s “flour massacre” last February, which left 118 dead and 760 injured.
In January, the IDF claimed to have successfully “dismantled” the command structure of Hamas in Northern Gaza with a ground offensive. By May, however, Israel was claiming that Hamas was trying to “reassemble” in the area and returned with further attacks, killing dozens of civilians and reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble.
Palestinians in Gaza have been under a series of constantly shifting evacuation orders since the start of Israel’s invasion in October of last year. The UN estimates that over 90% of the population (roughly 1.9 million people) has been displaced “at least once, if not 10 times” as of July. The frequent and often contradictory evacuation orders have led many to stop heeding them, resigning themselves to the belief that no place in Gaza is safe.
