October 6, 2024
The Israeli
military has launched a fresh assault on northern Gaza and ordered all
Palestinian civilians living in the north to head south, signaling Israel may
be enacting an ethnic cleansing plan that has been reviewed by Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu.
Displaced
Palestinians make their way as they flee areas in the northern Gaza Strip
following an Israeli evacuation order in Jabalia, October 6, 2024.
REUTERS/Hussam Al-Zaanin
Known as the
“general’s plan” since it was drawn up by retired IDF generals, the plan would
result in the complete ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from areas in Gaza
north of the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land controlled by the Israeli
military that separates Gaza City and other parts of the north from the south.
Itsik Zuaret, a
reporter for Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, said the general’s plan was
underway. “In the future, the entire northern area of the Gaza Strip
will be cleansed according to the general’s plan,”
he wrote on X.
The first step
of the plan is to transfer the estimated 300,000 Palestinian civilians out of
northern Gaza, then impose a full siege on the north to starve out remaining
Hamas fighters and other Palestinians who remain. Northern Gaza would be
declared a “closed military zone,” meaning anyone who remains will be targeted
by the IDF.
Since Israel has
bombed so-called “safe zones” throughout the war and the tent camps in the
south are already extremely overcrowded, many Palestinian civilians are
expected to ignore the new evacuation order. According to Al Jazeera, some
Palestinians have started to head south, but Palestinian authorities are
calling on civilians not to listen to the Israeli evacuation order.
“Israeli claims
about the presence of safe zones in southern Gaza are lies as Israel commits
crimes and massacres in all areas of the enclave,” Gaza’s Interior Ministry
said. “We call on citizens in northern Gaza to ignore Israeli threats.”
Israeli forces
are currently focusing their renewed assault in northern Gaza on the Jabalia
refugee camp and have sent tanks into the area for the first time in months. At
least 17 people, including nine children, were killed by Israeli attacks on
Jabalia overnight Saturday into Sunday.
The Israeli
military said it has surrounded Jabalia, while Palestinian Islamic Jihad said
its fighters have targeted Israeli troops attempting to penetrate the camp.
Under the
general’s plan, once Israel kills and starves the remaining Palestinians in
northern Gaza, it can use the same tactics in other areas of the Strip.
Israel’s assault on Lebanon and the looming Israeli attack on Iran has taken
much of the world’s attention away from the genocidal war in Gaza, giving
Netanyahu an opportunity to enact the ethnic cleansing plan with less global
scrutiny.
The Israeli
takeover of northern Gaza could pave the way for Jewish settlements in the
area, an idea supported by many Israeli ministers and Knesset members.
Israeli
forces have killed at least 82 Palestinians in Gaza over the past three days,
according to numbers released by Gaza’s Health Ministry.
In
its latest update, the ministry said on Sunday that at least 45 Palestinians
had been killed in the previous 24-hour period, a figure that’s based on the
total number of bodies brought to hospitals and morgues.
The
45 bodies bring the ministry’s death toll since October 7, 2023, to 41,870.
Another 256 Palestinians were injured from Saturday into Sunday, bringing the
total number of wounded to 97,166.
Palestinians
inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a mosque sheltering displaced people
in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, October 6, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan
Abed
The
Health Ministry’s figures are an undercount since they don’t account for the
thousands of Palestinians who are missing and presumed dead under the rubble.
“There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the streets, and
ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the ministry wrote on
Telegram.
It’s
also unclear how many indirect deaths there have been due to the Israeli siege.
A group of American healthcare workers who volunteered in Gaza published an
open letter to President Biden and Vice President Harris that estimated over
118,908 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, a total that includes tens of
thousands they believe have starved to death.
Israeli
attacks on Gaza on Sunday included a strike on a mosque and a school in central
Gaza’s Deir al-Balah. According to the Health Ministry, at least 26 people were
killed in both attacks.
“The
toll of what reached the hospitals as a result of the occupation targeting the
displaced people in Ibn Rushd School and al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque in the Central
Governorate, at dawn today: 26 martyrs and dozens of injuries,” the ministry
wrote on Telegram.
Israel
has also escalated attacks on northern Gaza, killing at least 17 in the Jabalia
refugee camp. The Israeli military ordered all Palestinians in northern Gaza to
evacuate to the south, signaling it’s enacting an ethnic cleansing plan while
much of the world’s attention is on Lebanon and tensions between Israel and
Iran.
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