Post by ltlee1And then to GAZA to take the people away.
"Conventional wisdom has generally held that Israel’s government lacks a strategy for the Gaza Strip beyond toppling Hamas.
“Israel has no plan for Gaza after war ends, experts warn,” the BBC reported in October. In November The Washington Post observed that “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under criticism for not offering a clear plan for what happens in Gaza if Israel succeeds in its goal of deposing Hamas.” A headline in Foreign Affairs in December lamented “Israel’s Muddled Strategy in Gaza.”
But there are signs that some members of the Israeli government do indeed have a strategy, or at least a preference, for what happens next. It’s implicit in the kind of war Israel has waged, which has made Gaza largely unlivable. And a growing number of Israeli officials are saying it out loud: They don’t want to force just Hamas out of Gaza. They want many of Gaza’s people to leave, too.
The calls for population transfers started long before Gaza was reduced to the ruins that it is today. Six days after Hamas’s massacre of Israelis on Oct. 7, the Intelligence Ministry proposed permanently relocating Gazans to the Sinai region of Egypt. On Nov. 14, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he supported “the voluntary emigration of Gaza Arabs to countries around the world.” Five days later, Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel endorsed “the voluntary resettlement of Palestinians in Gaza, for humanitarian reasons, outside of the Strip.”
The Israel Hayom newspaper reported on Nov. 30 that Mr. Netanyahu had asked Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, one of his closest confidants, to develop a plan to “thin” the population in Gaza “to a minimum” by prying open Egypt’s doors and opening up sea routes to other countries. Mr. Netanyahu also reportedly urged President Biden and the leaders of Britain and France to push Egypt to admit hundreds of thousands of Gazan refugees."
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/07/opinion/israel-gaza-war.html
-------------------------------------
"Shadia Abu Middin had fled Israel’s war against Hamas twice. Then on Dec. 31, Israel told the 44-year-old mother of four in Gaza to run again, but she didn’t know where to go.
Palestinians are fleeing into an ever-shrinking section of the Gaza Strip as Israel’s offensive enters its fourth month and its military asks the enclave’s residents to leave more areas it says are unsafe. The Israeli warnings are pushing people to concentrate into just one-third of the strip, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says. In effect, the ground available to its 2.2 million people has shrunk to an area slightly larger than the Bronx.
Those fleeing in the most-recent round of evacuations face an even deeper state of confusion and exhaustion than previous waves. Internet and communications systems are limited after months of war. Israel has largely banned the entry of fuel for cars, so Gazans are resorting to carts towed by horses and donkeys.
They are sheltering in abandoned buildings, sleeping in the street or pushing into already crowded U.N.-run schools that serve as shelters. Diseases such as hepatitis are spreading, aid groups say. Food and clean drinking water are scarce and Gazans are chopping down trees for firewood."
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/for-fleeing-palestinians-gaza-has-shrunkby-two-thirds-96bc10ae