The new military onslaught planned by Israel in Gaza is on hold until US president Donald Trump completes his visit to the Gulf on May 16th, but it already has a name: Operation Gideon’s Chariots.
Knesset member Moshe Saada, from prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu‘s Likud party, said the manoeuvre will be a “major event of destruction and displacement, and the goal is the occupation of the entire Gaza Strip”.
New details have emerged since the security cabinet approved the escalation on Sunday, in an effort to break the deadlock that has seen no Gaza hostages released in more than 70 days.
Israel says the operation has two objectives: firstly, to make Hamas agree to a hostage deal on terms that are acceptable to Israel and, secondly, to inflict significant damage to Hamas’s fighting forces and infrastructure, in a bid to facilitate a “day after” postwar arrangement in Gaza.
The operation is supposed to be executed in three stages. The first, which is already under way, is the preparatory stage. The second involves pounding Gaza from the air and ground, combined with moving most of the civilians in Gaza to so-called “safe zones” in the Rafah area. The third is a high-intensity ground manoeuvre to conquer parts of the Gaza Strip ahead of maintaining a lengthy military presence in the captured areas.
[ Israel's plan to expand campaign strikes fear among GazansOpens in new window ]
Israel, in co-operation with an American contractor, will set up logistical centres in the Rafah region where it says the contractor will distribute food, medicine and water and take care of sanitation. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), according to the plan, will escort the aid to the safe zones for distribution by the contractors.
Israel’s plan to control aid distribution has drawn heavy criticism from the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs and takes place against the backdrop of severe food shortages in Gaza.
In late April, the World Food Programme said it had run out of stocks of food in Gaza.
According to Israel, civilians heading south to the “safe zones” will be screened at IDF crossing points to prevent militants from infiltrating the civilian population and to prevent Hamas from commandeering the humanitarian aid to finance its operations.
Israel believes that the third stage, when large areas of the Gaza Strip will be gradually conquered, will last for several months. It says troops will remain deployed in those areas to prevent Hamas fighters emerging from tunnels and carrying out guerrilla-style attacks.
Israel expects a stepped-up mediation effort ahead of next week’s Trump visit to the region, aimed at pressuring Hamas to accept a new ceasefire and hostage release deal, which would avert the Israeli attack.
According to the plan, Hamas will have “exit points” at the end of and in the course of each stage of the campaign. Any Hamas agreement to accept US envoy Steve Witkoff‘s framework, based on the release of up to 11 hostages for a 40- to 60-day ceasefire, will result in Israel stopping its military campaign.
