Three Israeli reserve soldiers have told Haaretz that they believe an ethnic cleansing plan is already underway in northern Gaza, where the Israeli military is trying to forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Known as the “general’s plan” because it’s being pushed by a retired Israeli general, Giora Eiland, the plan calls for the evacuation of all Palestinian civilians north of the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land controlled by the Israeli military. Anyone who stays behind will be exterminated, either by military action or starvation.
“The commanders say openly that the Eiland plan is being promoted by the IDF,” an Israeli soldier in the IDF’s 162nd Division told Haaretz.
Another soldier who is stationed at the Netzarim Corridor said, “The goal is to give the residents who live north of the Netzarim area a deadline to move to the south of the Strip. After this date, whoever will remain in the north will be considered an enemy and will be killed.”
The soldier added, “It doesn’t conform to any standard of international law. People sat and wrote a systematic order with charts and an operational concept, at the end of which you shoot whoever isn’t willing to leave. The very existence of this idea is unfathomable.”
The Israeli assault on north Gaza is currently focused on the Jabalia refugee camp, which has been under complete siege for about 12 days. Israel has ordered an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 Palestinians to head south, but few have left since nowhere is safe in Gaza, and the tent camps in the south are extremely overcrowded.
Israel did not let any aid into northern Gaza for about two weeks. The Israeli military claimed it allowed 50 aid trucks to enter the north on Wednesday, but according to Dropsite News, the aid did not reach the besieged areas of Jabalia, Beit Hanoon, and Beit Lahiya. Dropsite also reported that after 12 days of an ongoing siege, hospitals in northern Gaza have received 350 bodies.
Haaretz previously reported that the Israeli government had no intention to restart ceasefire talks and is now focused on annexing parts of Gaza. If the general’s plan is completed in the north, it could pave the way for Jewish settlements, and then the ethnic cleansing campaign could be carried out in other parts of the Strip.