The plan advocates the forced transfer of the population of the Gaza Strip to Sinai permanently, and calls for the international community to be leveraged to assist the move
Palestinians shelter at a temporary tent camp set up for those who were displaced from their homes by Israel's evacuation orders and airstrikes, Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip (Photo credit: Bloomberg)
Israeli culture magazine Mekomitpublished on 28 October a leaked document issued by Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence recommending the occupation of Gaza and total transfer of its 2.3 million inhabitants to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
The document, issued on 13 October, identifies a plan to transfer all residents of the Gaza Strip to North Sinai as the preferred option among three alternatives regarding the future of the Palestinians in Gaza at the end of the current war between Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian resistance.
The document recommends that Israel evacuate the Gazan population to Sinai during the war, establish tent cities and new cities in northern Sinai to accommodate the deported population, and then create a closed security zone stretching several kilometers inside Egypt. The deported Palestinians would not be allowed to return to any areas near the Israeli border.
The existence of the document does not necessarily indicate that its recommendations are being implemented by Israel’s security establishment.
The Ministry of Intelligence, headed by Gila Gamliel of the Likud party, does not control any of Israel’s intelligence agencies, but independently prepares studies and policy papers, which are distributed for consideration by the government and its security bodies.
However, recent statements by Israeli government officials and actions by the Israeli army in Gaza suggest the plan is indeed being implemented. Since 7 October, Israeli officials have repeatedly issued warnings to Palestinians to move to southern Gaza in advance of a looming ground invasion.
Israel has imposed a total siege on Gaza, cutting off food, water, fuel, and electricity. The siege, combined with intense Israeli bombing that has killed over 8,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, threatens to make Gaza uninhabitable.
An official at the Ministry of Intelligence confirmed that the ten-page document is authentic but "was not supposed to reach the media," Mekovit noted.
According to a right-wing activist, the document from the Ministry of Intelligence was leaked by a member of Likud. Leaking the document was an attempt to find out whether "the public in Israel is ready to accept ideas of a transfer from Gaza."
The document unequivocally and explicitly recommends carrying out a transfer of civilians from Gaza as the desired outcome of the war.
The transfer plan is divided into several phases: in the first phase, the population in Gaza must be forced to move to southern Gaza, while Israeli air strikes will focus on targets in northern Gaza.
In the second phase, the Israeli army's ground entry into Gaza will begin, which will lead to the occupation of the entire strip, from north to south, and the "cleansing of the underground bunkers from Hamas fighters."
At the same time as the Gaza Strip is occupied, the citizens of Gaza will move to Egyptian territory and will be prevented from returning permanently.
"It is important to leave the traffic lanes towards the south usable, to allow the evacuation of the civilian population towards Rafah," the document states.
The document recommends beginning a dedicated campaign that will "motivate” Gazans “to agree to the plan,” and make them give up their land.
Gazan should be convinced that “Allah made sure that you lost this land because of the leadership of Hamas - there is no choice but to move to another place with the help of Your Muslim brothers," the document reads.
Further, the plan states the government must launch a public relations campaign that will promote the transfer program to western states in a way that does not promote hostility to Israel or damage its reputation. The deportation of the population from Gaza must be presented as a necessary humanitarian measure to receive international support. Such a deportation could be justified if it will lead to "fewer casualties among the civilian population compared to the expected number of casualties if they remain,” the document says.
The document also states that the US should be leveraged to pressure Egypt to take in the residents of Gaza, and to encourage other European countries, and in particular Greece, Spain and Canada, to help take in and settle the refugees who will be evacuated from Gaza.
Finally, the document claims that if the population of Gaza remains, there will be "many Arab deaths" during the expected occupation of Gaza by the Israeli army, and this will damage Israel's international image even more than the deportation of the population. For all these reasons, the recommendation of the Ministry of Intelligence is to promote the transfer of all Palestinians in Gaza to Sinai permanently.
Meanwhile, the following was reported by The Cradle on Sunday, 5th November.
Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu visits the United Arab Emirates, Sept. 2023. (Photo credit: Amichai Eliyahu/Facebook.)
An Israeli minister from the Otzma Yehudit political party says one of Israel’s options in the war in Gaza is to drop a nuclear bomb on the strip, The Times of Israelreported on 5 November.
Asked in an interview with Radio Kol Berama whether an atomic bomb should be dropped on the enclave, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu says “this is one of the possibilities.”
Eliyahu, of Itamar Ben Gvir’s Jewish supremacist political party, stated further that “there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza,” and that, therefore, no humanitarian aid should be allowed into the besieged enclave.
He also expressed his support for depopulating Gaza and reconquering it to reestablish Jewish settlements there. Regarding the Palestinian population, he says: “They can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves.”
He says anyone waving a Palestinian or Hamas flag “shouldn’t continue living on the face of the earth.”
In response, Hamas issued statement saying, “The statements of one of the occupation ministers about the possibility of dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza reflect the terrorism of the Israeli government against our people.”
Eliyahu is not part of the security cabinet that controls Israel’s military decision-making in the war against Hamas and the Palestinian resistance, meaning his comments may have little if any weight with Israel’s security establishment.
However, comments casting all Palestinians, including children, as deserving of death due to Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on 7 October, in which 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed, have become commonplace among Israeli politicians, celebrities, and journalists.
Some Israelis were killed by Hamas fighters during the 7 October attack, while others were killed by Israeli forces themselves, who wished to prevent Hamas from taking them as captives back to Gaza.
Israeli journalist Shimon Riklin stated that, “Gaza has to be wiped off from the face of the earth,” while asking, “Why exactly do we have an atomic bomb?”
Member of the Likud party and Knesset member Revital Gottlieb stated, “Bring down buildings!! Bomb without distinction!! Stop with this impotence. You have the ability. There is worldwide legitimacy! Flatten Gaza. Without mercy! This time, there is no room for mercy!”
“The world finally understands who the animals we are dealing with are... This allows the IDF to exact a much heavier price from Gaza. Not only from Hamas. Everyone who is celebrating now in Gaza - should cry. It's that simple,” stated Ofer Hadad, a journalist and TV anchor.
“it's an entire nation out there that is responsible. it's not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it’s absolutely not true…” stated Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
“[I]f, in order to finally eliminate the military capabilities of Hamas, including [Hamas leaders] Sinwar and Deif, we need a million bodies, then let there be a million bodies,” stated journalist Roy Sharon.
"Erase Gaza, don't leave a single person there,” stated Eyal Golan, a popular Israeli singer.
These attitudes, in part, explain the willingness of Israel’s military to carry out a bombing campaign in Gaza that has killed Palestinian civilians “on a mass scale,” according to Amnesty International, in what Holocaust scholar Raz Segal has called “A textbook case of genocide.”
Israel’s bombing campaign has killed over 9,500 Palestinians in less than four weeks, including 6,400 women and children.
Also note this via Telegram:
Please listen to what Shahid Bolsen had to say in response to Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu’s heinous comments about nuking Gaza.
