DUBAI, May 6. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) broadening the scale of its military operation in the Gaza Strip may cause up to 1.4-1.8 million of its residents leaving the Palestinian enclave, the Emirati newspaper The National said, citing sources.
On Monday, Israel’s Ynet portal reported that the country’s military and political cabinet had approved a plan to intensify the Gaza operation. According to Israeli state-run Radio Kan, the operation, dubbed "Gideon’s Chariots," aims to destroy the Gaza-based Palestinian movement Hamas. To this end, it is planned "to push the entire population of Gaza to a ‘safe zone’ in the south of the enclave," while in other parts of the enclave, the IDF will be free to operate.
The newspaper’s sources noted that the "safe zone" will be created over an area between 50-70 square kilometers near Egypt's border with Gaza. Allegedly, the Israeli leadership is planning on deliberately creating unbearable living conditions in that zone to force up to 1.8 million out of 2.3 million residents to leave the enclave and emigrate. In that case, only between 500,000 and 900,000 Palestinians would remain in Gaza.
"There will be tents and rudimentary health clinics and schools, and everything will be closely monitored by the Israeli military. Relief supplies will be minimal, the idea being that the Palestinians will find life so tough there, that many of them will want to leave," one of the sources told the newspaper. The sources drew parallels with Nakba, the mass exodus of the Palestinians from their homes located on present-day Israeli territory as a result of the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948-1949.
Kan Radio’s sources earlier noted that Israel deploying additional forces before the operation opens a "window of opportunity" until the end of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region in order to implement a deal on releasing hostages. Nevertheless, even if an agreement is reached, "Israeli forces will now hold the territories they seize, until Hamas is defeated, or agrees to disarm and leave Gaza." That said, if the deal is not concluded, the operation Gideon’s Chariots will commence with high intensity and continue until all its goals are reached.
On March 18, the IDF resumed fighting in the Gaza Strip, launching massive strikes on the enclave and thus breaking the ceasefire established in January. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel had restarted military operations in the enclave after Hamas rejected the US proposals put forward by mediators and US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff. The office stated that the Israeli military had resumed strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza to facilitate the release of hostages and that the army would escalate its campaign in the enclave. According to the latest data by the Israeli side, currently 24 hostages and bodies of 35 captives are still being held in the enclave. The Gaza-based movement has blamed the United States for the renewal of Israeli aggression.