Netanyahu weighs plan to evacuate all of northern Gaza, lay complete siege: report
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the country’s parliament he is considering the military’s so-called “Generals’ Plan,” which would evacuate all residents from northern Gaza to lay complete siege to the area, a new report says.The PM told Knesset members Sunday that his cabinet would be examining the plan, which is not backed by the US, to take control of northern Gaza as Hamas continues to regroup in the area even after a year of war, the Times of Israel reported.
Former Israel Defense Force Maj.Gen.
Giora Eiland laid forth the plan last week before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.He told the panel’s members that the plan would ensure Israel’s victory and free the hostages at a time when the cease-fire talks with Hamas lie frozen.
“We have to tell the residents of north Gaza that they have one week to evacuate the territory, which then becomes a military zone; [a zone] in which every figure is a target and, most importantly, no supplies enter this territory,” Eliand said of the proposed incursion.Eiland, who has received backing from senior IDF reservists, said the plan would cover the entire area north of the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza City, with the forced evacuation estimated to affect about 250,000 people.
After the evacuation, IDF troops would then systematically arrest or eradicate the members of the terror group who stayed behind, and any terrorist who avoids the troops would eventually “starve to death.” Eliand and other senior IDF reservists claim the plan is necessary to end Hamas’ repeated resurgence in northern Gaza.He said the plan would also land a blow to Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the Oct.
7 terrorist attack on Israel.“What matters to Sinwar is land and dignity, and with this maneuver, you take away both land and dignity,” Eliand told the lawmakers.Netanyahu has previously stated that he believes military pressure is the best way to free the estimated 97 Israel...