Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has ordered Israeli troops to occupy 70 per cent of Gaza, up from 50 per cent, in defiance of the terms of a fragile ceasefire that took effect in October.
“We are currently squeezing Hamas. We now control 60 per cent of the territory in the strip,” he said at a conference in an occupied West Bank settlement, according to a video aired by Israel’s Channel 12 network.
He said the military had controlled half of Gaza under the terms of the ceasefire, adding: “My directive is to move to ... 70 per cent”.
“We’re squeezing them from all [sides]. We’ll deal with what’s left afterwards.”
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He made the comments as Israel’s defence minister said he is committed to large-scale migration of Palestinians from Gaza as part of Israel’s long-term plans for the territory.
Israel Katz said the government would implement a plan for large numbers of Palestinians to leave Gaza “at the right time and in the right manner”, in a statement on Wednesday marking the targeted killing of Mohammed Odeh, Hamas’s most recent military commander.
Pushing for mass departures violates Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza, which Israel signed last year. The second point of the plan states: “Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough.”
Israel’s government has promoted the prospect of Gaza without Palestinians since Trump suggested early last year that hundreds of thousands of people should leave to “clean out” the strip for reconstruction.
Last year Israel set up a bureau for “voluntary emigration” and eased travel restrictions for Palestinians who wanted to make a one-way journey out of the strip.
The forced transfer of civilian populations is a war crime and a crime against humanity. Israeli officials, including Katz, use the term “voluntary migration” to describe their plans for large numbers of Palestinians to leave Gaza.
Israel-based human rights organisations and lawyers have warned that the conditions Israel has imposed on Gaza mean no departure can be considered voluntary and the policy constitutes planning for ethnic cleansing.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said last year: “Creating living conditions that do not allow for survival, freedom and dignity, and subjecting civilians to them until they say they want to leave is not a plan for ‘encouraging voluntary emigration’ but a plan for forced evacuation and expulsion.”
Katz said the mass departure of Palestinians from Gaza would go hand in hand with the exclusion of Hamas from power.
“We committed that Hamas will not rule Gaza civilly or militarily, and so it shall be, and also the voluntary emigration plan from Gaza will be implemented,” he said in a social media post. “Everything at the right timing and in the right manner.”
A spokesperson for Katz did not respond to questions about whether Israel was still committed to the terms of Trump’s ceasefire.
With an election due by the end of October, Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and his political allies are also courting voters, said Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst on Israel-Palestine at the International Crisis Group.
“Because we are looking at an extension of the ceasefire and de-escalation of the situation in Iran and Lebanon, Israel – and Netanyahu specifically – will be looking for ways to show that they’re doing something on the security front, and that means exercising military power,” she said.
“Unfortunately talking about ethnic cleansing in Gaza is not necessarily something that will hurt you in domestic politics. In fact it might even help you.” - Guardian
