A complete siege is being put on the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahiya are being invaded and brutally bombed. No aid has entered them since the start of the Israeli military operation on October 5.
The pace of the Israeli war on Gaza made many worry about Israel’s targets, which may include the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with Fox News in November 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Israel does not intend to reoccupy or govern Gaza after the end of the war but to “demilitarize, deradicalize, and rebuild” the Gaza Strip.
In January 2024, Netanyahu repeated his claims regarding the reoccupation. Rebuffing hard-right ministers’ calls to rebuild settlements in the territory and encourage Palestinian emigration, the Israeli Prime Minister alleged that Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilians, adding that “Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law.”
However, Israel’s current steps in Gaza raise concerns as it ordered most of the residents in northern Gaza to evacuate to southern Gaza while carrying out the deadliest ground operation, which seems as an execution of the Generals’ Plan in the Strip and the beginning of the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip.
Based on the reports and videos coming from journalists in the northern parts of Gaza, Misbar’s team analyzed the current Israeli operations in northern Gaza and found that Israel is adopting the Generals’ Plan to re-occupy Gaza.
What Is The Generals’ Plan?
Last September, Netanyahu, and Gallant agreed to study the possible operations that could be carried out in Gaza, considering a plan called the Generals’ Plan, which calls for a blockade of the northern Gaza Strip, a halt to humanitarian aid, and the evacuation of residents.
The plan was put in by Giora Eiland, a retired major general reserve, the former head of the army's operations and planning divisions, as well as the National Security Council, who is known for his extreme opinions regarding the current Israeli war on Gaza.
In October 2023, Eiland said that Israel needed to exert much stronger pressure, calling for the complete destruction of Gaza and for causing terrible chaos and a severe humanitarian crisis. Two months into the war, he said that humanitarian aid should be cut and all of Gaza shall starve to bring a coup against Sinwar, the head of Hamas, who was killed in clashes with the IOF in Rafah recently. He believes that Palestinian human rights should be ignored and Israel should not prioritize avoiding the possibility of an epidemic in Gaza.
27 Knesset members from the coalition supported the plan and signed a letter calling Netanyahu to implement it.
After a month of revealing the plan to the media outlets, the Israeli army carried out several operations in the northern parts of the Strip: Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahiya ordering residents to evacuate while simultaneously killing and bombing civilians.
Several experts stated that the current military operation in North Gaza is different from any other previous military operations, and its goal is to implement the generals' plan.
The Israeli Operations In Northern Gaza
The Generals’ Plan was defined by three objectives according to the Institute for National Security Studies: imposing a siege in northern Gaza, preventing supplies from the northern parts of the Strip, and emptying the northern parts of the approximately 300,00 residents there.
Although Israel has not officially declared that it adopted the plan, Misbar analyzed the current operations of the Israeli military in the northern parts of Gaza and found that all of the Generals' Plan steps are being adopted.
Israel Empties The Northern Parts Of Gaza By Annihilating People
On October 6, Israel began by issuing orders of evacuation to the residents of the northern parts of Gaza.
Anyone who did not follow the orders is being targeted. The Euro-Med Monitor documented the use of the internationally banned booby-trapped robots in the north against civilians indiscriminately there.
Aside from using booby-trapped robots, Al Jazeera's field journalist Anas Al-Sharif documented Israel using explosive barrels in Jabalia aiming to demolish civilian houses.
Only three hospitals are remaining in the North Gaza governorate. On October 18, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA OPT) stated that Al Awda and Indonesian hospitals, two out of the three remaining hospitals, had been directly hit by the Israeli army.
These hospitals could not evacuate as the patients had nowhere to go and ambulances as well as medical staff were being directly hit.
Children are being targeted too and those who try to rescue them are being slaughtered.
Israel’s intention to empty the northern parts of the Strip is evident in every action taken by the IOF.
Israel Tightly Besieges The Northern Parts Of Gaza
Although Israel has issued orders of evacuation to the residents of the northern parts of the strip, Misbar noticed that Israel is tightly besieging Jablia city, the town, and the refugee camp, killing those who try to evacuate.
Abu Sharekh roundabout is the last exit for the residents in Jabalia. However, Misbar observed many incidents where the people trying to exit or enter Jabalia were directly targeted.
Hossam Shabat, Al Jazeera’s journalist in northern Gaza, reported on October 9 that the IOF shot at everyone in sight in the Abu Sharekh roundabout.
The international charity Doctors Without Borders, known as MSF, confirmed that the residents in Jabalia are being trapped there as five of its staff are trapped with the residents.
“Nobody is allowed to get in or out, anyone who tries is getting shot,” the medical organization said on X on October 14.
No Food Supplies To The Northern Parts Of Gaza
Aligning with the final point of the Generals’ Plan, Israel has cut off food supplies to the northern parts of Gaza.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, no food supplies have entered the northern parts of Gaza, since October 1, 2024.
Erez and Erez West crossings which are the entry routes of supplies to North Gaza have been kept closed and no essentials have been allowed from the south.
The Euro-Med Monitor has stated that the Palestinians in northern Gaza are trapped without water or food supplies while the Israeli army is imposing a blackout by cutting off communication and internet networks.
Analyzing the operations above, the Israeli army is forcing the people in northern parts of the Strip to choose between displacement and starvation.
As it could be noted, the Generals’ Plan is being followed by the Israeli army as the three main points of its points are being fully adopted in the northern parts of the Strip.
Preparations For Reoccupation
As many observers have concluded, the Israeli Generals’ Plan is a plan aiming to reoccupy Gaza.
Since October 13, 2023, Israel has been issuing orders of evacuation to all of the residents north of the Gaza Valley directing them to the South of the Strip.
Those who were forcibly displaced to the South are still forbidden to return to their homes and regions in the North, although Israel has carried out extensive military operations in most of the regions in the South.
These orders of evacuation by the Israeli military sound alarming. Israel has not shown any sign of letting people return to their communities since the onslaught of the war. Palestinians in Gaza who refused to evacuate are afraid of a new Nakba scenario.
Now, the Israeli orders of evacuation to the northern parts of the Strip seem more alarming than ever. Israel has issued orders to all of the residents of three towns in Gaza, with the intent of completely emptying them to turn the regions into closed military zones.
A new geopolitical and security reality is being created in the northern parts of Gaza following the Generals’ Plan.
Retired Jordanian army general Fayez Al-Duwairi stated that the IOF is seeking to control all of the areas of the northern Gaza Valley, which comprises Gaza City, Jabalia, Beit Lahya, and Beit Hanoun.
The Generals' Plan dictates that if the northern parts of Gaza were successfully emptied, the plan would be adopted in the southern part of the Strip, where the regions there would be emptied too.
However, the plan did not mention where the Palestinians in the south would be directed. If the plan was adopted in the south, the only place that Israel could push people to would be Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Pushing the Palestinians in the south of the Strip to Sinai has been proposed since the first month of the war. In October 2023, a plan was suggested by the Israeli intel ministry to permanently relocate Palestinians in the south of the Strip to Sinai.
The plan included creating a buffer zone between the Palestinian communities in Sinai and the Israeli border to prevent them from approaching.
However, if adopted, the buffer zone would be between the Palestinian communities and the Palestinian border near Rafah to prevent Palestinians from returning to their lands and homes in the Gaza Strip.
Apart from the Generals’ Plan, Israel has a military presence in some parts of the Gaza Strip that seems also alarming.
Currently, Some parts of the Gaza Strip are being occupied by the Israeli military with no indications of plans of withdrawal.
The Netzarim corridor, an area carved out that cuts off northern Gaza from the south, and the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border, have Israeli permanent military existence on them since they were invaded which is evidently declared by the Israeli army.
Netanyahu repeatedly declared his intention to reoccupy the Philadelphi corridor in negotiations for a ceasefire.
Refusing the withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor, Netanyahu claims that control of the Egyptian border area is needed to prevent Hamas from replenishing its arsenal through smuggling tunnels.
However, Netanyahu did not justify the existence of the IOF on the Netzarim corridor. The Netzarim corridor is used now just to prevent the return attempts of the Palestinians who evacuated to the south.
Analysts say that Israeli control of the Netzarim corridor is an attempt to permanently dictate life in Gaza beyond the war.
In January, a group of Israeli settler organizations celebrated a conference in Jerusalem to voice their demands to be allowed to move to Gaza. In the conference, Daniela Weiss, a leading figure of the hardline settler movement, said that “neither Hamas nor the PLO nor the UN nor UNRWA, but only Jews can rule Gaza.”
In an article on Haaretz titled, “War first, then annexation: is Israel preparing to permanently occupy Gaza,” the Israeli political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin described Hamas’ operation on October 7 as the biggest possible prize for Israel as it gave its officials a chance to double its annexationist fantasies by expanding to Gaza.
According to Scheindlin, the Israeli government would not dream of annexing the Gaza Strip into the land it occupies before October 7. Now, Likud ministers and Israeli officials openly declared their intention to reoccupy Gaza permanently and rebuild settlements.
Still, the 200,000 Palestinians remaining in North Gaza, who refuse to leave despite the famine and the bombs, are the greatest obstacle standing in the way of the Israeli plan to annex Gaza.
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