In the northern Gaza Strip, which has been besieged and heavily bombarded by Israel for 10 days, Israel is reportedly implementing the “Generals’ Plan,” though it has not officially announced this strategy. This plan envisions a division of Gaza into two parts.
The Israeli army has maintained a tight siege, with continued air and ground attacks on the Jibaliya refugee camp and the towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanun. No aid, including medicine, is being allowed into the region, and Israel continues to bomb civilian areas, ignoring warnings from international organizations, including the United Nations, about a looming humanitarian catastrophe.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that primary crossings into northern Gaza have been closed, with no food aid entering the region since October 1. Food distribution points, kitchens, and bakeries have shut down due to airstrikes and evacuation orders.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also reported that health services in northern Gaza are almost non-existent.
The Arab League has described Israel’s actions in northern Gaza as “genocide” and condemned these actions.
The siege and intense attacks appear to follow the so-called “Generals’ Plan,” initially proposed by General Giora Eiland, a former head of the Israeli army’s operations department. This plan suggests indefinite Israeli control over northern Gaza and the establishment of a new administration free of Hamas.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally stated last month that this plan was under consideration, no official decision has been made in parliament. The Israeli army denies its actions in northern Gaza are based on this plan, but the events of the past 10 days suggest that elements of it may be in effect.
General Eiland shared details of the plan with the Associated Press (AP). Under this strategy, Palestinians would have a week to leave a third of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, after which the area would be declared a closed military zone.
The plan includes a strict embargo on food, water, medicine, and fuel, and would label Palestinians who remain as “militants,” potentially justifying lethal force. The goal is to split Gaza and create a non-Hamas-controlled administration. Ultimately, Gaza would be divided into two separate areas.
When asked if the recent evacuation orders were part of this plan, Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said, “No, we have not received any such plan.” However, an official familiar with the matter told AP that some parts of the plan are being implemented, without specifying which.
No trucks carrying food, water, or medicine have entered northern Gaza since September 30, according to the UN and the Israeli military authority overseeing humanitarian crossings.
Human rights groups argue that this plan would condemn civilians to starvation, violating international law prohibiting the use of food as a weapon and forced displacement. Accusations that Israel is deliberately restricting food access to Gaza are part of a genocide case against it at the International Court of Justice, which Israel denies.
Few Palestinians have complied with the latest evacuation order. Some residents are elderly or sick, while others fear there is nowhere safe to go, believing they may never be allowed to return. Israel has previously barred those who fled at the start of the war from returning.
“All Gazans fear this plan,” said Jomana Elkhalili, a 26-year-old Palestinian aid worker for Oxfam in Gaza.
“They’re not going to run. They won’t make that mistake again. People know it’s not safe,” she said, referring to conditions in southern Gaza, where people live in tent camps frequently targeted by airstrikes. “In the north, people feel it’s better to die than to leave.”
After Eiland presented the plan, officials from the prime minister’s office called him for further details. Eiland asserts that the only way to weaken Hamas is by denying it access to aid, forcing it to surrender or starve.
“That doesn’t mean killing everyone. People won’t be able to live there; the water will run out,” he said.
Tania Hary, executive director of Gisha, an Israeli human rights organization defending Palestinians’ right to move freely in Gaza, expressed deep concern over the implication that anyone failing to comply with evacuation orders could be considered “at war.”
A copy of the plan seen by AP suggests that if this strategy succeeds in northern Gaza, it could be extended to other areas in the south, including tent camps housing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
