Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed his intention today to re-occupy the entire Gaza Strip – a plan facing a backlash not just from humanitarian groups and hostage families but from Israel’s military leadership too.
The IDF currently controls around 75 per cent of Gaza. The remaining 25 per cent includes Gaza City and other neighbourhoods in central Gaza, where much of the strip’s two million Palestinians have sought refuge, living in overcrowded tent cities.
Netanyahu’s plan for “full conquest” of Gaza would reportedly be a “phased” plan to take control of the remaining parts of the territory, which would last four to five months and involve sending tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers into the enclave.
Israeli media reports that the plan would initially focus on taking full control of Gaza City and newly displacing around one million Palestinians there. The UN has warned of the “catastrophic consequences” for what amounts to half of Gaza’s population, who are now concentrated in this area following repeated displacement.
Speaking to the BBC, Caroline Willeman, a doctor working in Gaza for MSF expressed concern that the plan would make the medical charity’s work “extremely difficult, if not impossible”.
“It seems unfathomable to me that we have to imagine a situation that can get even worse than the total apocalypse we find ourselves in already”, she added.
Meanwhile, Israeli hostage families have reacted with fear to reports that the IDF will intensify military operations in some central areas of the strip where hostages are thought to be held. Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is being held captive by Hamas in Gaza, called for protests outside the Israeli security cabinet meeting today, denouncing the talks being held on a full Gaza takeover as a “death cabinet meeting”.
The Hostage Families Forum have called “on IDF commanders at all levels not to act in a way that will endanger hostages’ lives”, and made a direct plea to IDF chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, to stand up against Netanyahu’s new plan.
The plea to Zamir comes amid a growing split between Israel’s military leadership and much of its political echelon.
While Netanayahu insists that his new plan is the only way to “destroy Hamas”, the IDF chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, is said to have warned top Israeli officials on Tuesday evening that re-occupying Gaza would further endanger living Israeli hostages and plunge Israel into a “black hole” of prolonged insurgency.
According to Israeli media, Mossad chief David Barnea is also opposed to this expanded military operation and wants to focus on diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire-hostage deal.
Earlier in the week, 550 former Israeli security officials signed an open letter to Donald Trump urging him to “stop the Gaza war!”.
“The IDF has long accomplished the two objectives that could be achieved by force: dismantling Hamas’ military formations and governance… It is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,” wrote the signatories – including the former chief of the Mossad, former IDF chief, former head of Shin Bet and former Israeli police commissioner – as they urged the US President to “end the war, return the hostages, stop the suffering”.
Speaking to CBC, Ami Ayalon, the former head of Shin Bet, explained: “We wrote the letter as a result of the way we understand the war, and not because of the moral point of view”.
“But I’m telling you the truth,” he added, “Personally, I am ashamed of what we are doing in Gaza.”
That the former security chiefs directed their plea at Trump shows a recognition that he is the one international leader who commands real influence over Netanyahu.
But, so far, there is little sign that he will intervene to block his plan for a full take-over of the Gaza Strip.
When pressed on his position yesterday, Trump told reporters: “That’s going to be pretty much up to Israel”.
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