Israeli Forces Declare Plan for Ethnic Cleansing of Northernmost Part of Gaza

 

NEWS | HUMAN RIGHTS Israeli Forces Declare Plan for Ethnic Cleansing of Northernmost Part of Gaza Israeli forces have announced their intention to block any Palestinians from returning to north Gaza. By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT Published November 6, 2024 A displaced Palestinian child fleeing Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, walks on Gaza's main Salah al-Din road on the outskirts of Gaza City, on November 5, 2024. A displaced Palestinian child fleeing Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, walks on Gaza's main Salah al-Din road on the outskirts of Gaza City, on November 5, 2024. OMAR AL-QATTAA / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Israeli forces reportedly announced a plan this week for the total ethnic cleansing of a section of northern Gaza they have designated as a target, declaring, without evidence, that any Palestinians left there are not civilians. According to Israeli media sources, the Israeli military announced Tuesday that they have completed their “division of the northern Gaza Strip into two parts,” and that they are prepared to clear the northernmost part of all Palestinians. “This time there is no intention to allow the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes and that humanitarian aid will regularly enter the southern Gaza Strip — since there are no more civilians left north of Gaza City,” the Israeli military said, according to Israel’s broadcasting corporation’s Amichai Stein. The announcement appears to be the next step of the “Generals’ Plan,” an Israeli roadmap to empty north Gaza of all Palestinians through mass killing, starvation and forced displacement in order to potentially annex the besieged territory. As many advocates for Palestinian rights have pointed out, blocking residents from returning to their homes is ethnic cleansing and a violation of international law regarding forcible mass transfers. Analysts have said that infrastructure created by Israeli forces amid the genocide has also projected the intention to carry out this plan. RELATED STORY Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu addresses at the 79th session of General Assembly at UN Headquarters on September 27, 2024. NEWS | WAR & PEACE Netanyahu Fires Yoav Gallant, Defense Minister Who Often Opposed His Approach Gallant is a staunch supporter of Israel’s genocide, but has butted heads with Netanyahu at points. By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT November 5, 2024 The announcement serves as a threat toward families who are still in north Gaza, many of whom have been effectively trapped by Israel’s ceaseless bombardments and attacks in the region. The UN has estimated that roughly 100,000 people remain in north Gaza. In declaring, with absolutely zero evidence, that there are no civilians left, the army is effectively saying that all Palestinians are a legitimate target. Israel has already intensified its horrific attacks on north Gaza in the past month, killing at least 1,300 people in the small region over the course of the last few weeks. It has repeatedly sieged Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last partially operational hospital in the region, imprisoning some of the only medical workers left to treat those injured in attacks and killing patients, including newborn babies, in bombings. Many attacks are going unreported because the Israeli military has also relentlessly targeted journalists in the region, killing anyone broadcasting Israel’s atrocities to the world. Meanwhile, the UN reports that Israeli forces have blocked all food and nearly all other aid from entering north Gaza amid the raid, creating a famine that threatens to kill every Palestinian not directly targeted by Israeli soldiers. The military’s announcement came on election day in the U.S., the primary foreign sponsor of the genocide. “While people are watching the U.S. elections, we in North Gaza can hear heavy shelling and U.S.-sponsored bombs being dropped on us,” wrote Al Jazeera’s Hossam Shabat, one of the only journalists left in north Gaza. “Remember, whoever wins, they are all war criminals.” TRUTHOUT IS PREPARING TO MEET TRUMP’S AGENDA WITH RESISTANCE AT EVERY TURN Dear Truthout Community, If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done. 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How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you? It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so. We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way. We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work. Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together. With love, rage, and solidarity, Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license. SHARON ZHANG Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labor. Before coming to Truthout, Sharon had written stories for Pacific Standard, The New Republic, and more. She has a master’s degree in environmental studies. She can be found on Twitter: @zhang_sharon. Share Share via Facebook Share via Twitter Share via Flipboard Share via Email Print More …READING LIST POLITICS & ELECTIONS Trump Sails to Presidency in Election Fueled by Racism and Anti-Immigrant Hate POLITICS & ELECTIONS To Transform Our Trauma, We Must Nurture Movements for Change POLITICS & ELECTIONS Pundits Consider How Trump Won While Activists Plan to Resist His Presidency POLITICS & ELECTIONS Grassroots Organizing Wisdom Will Be Crucial With a Fascist in the White House HUMAN RIGHTS Israeli Forces Declare Plan for Ethnic Cleansing of Northernmost Part of Gaza POLITICS & ELECTIONS 10 Ways We Can Prepare for Another Trump Presidency RELATED STORIES Displaced Palestinians line up for bread at the only bakery left in the city of Khan Younis on October 24, 2024. 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NEWS | HUMAN RIGHTS Israel Strikes North Gaza Hospital, Destroying Medical Supplies Just Sent by UN Surgical services are totally suspended at Kamal Adwan Hospital, where only two doctors remain after an Israeli siege. By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT October 31, 2024 LATEST STORIES Pat Schaffer, who is unhoused, takes shelter at a building in St. Petersburg as Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall later on October 9, 2024, in Florida. NEWS ANALYSIS | ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH Encampment Ban Heightens Risks for Miami’s Unhoused During Hurricane Milton As storms displace thousands, what commitments are made to ensure shelter for those in need? By Alexandra Martinez , PRISM November 2, 2024 Palestinians search through the rubble of a building after an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on October 29, 2024. NEWS | HUMAN RIGHTS Israel Used US Bomb in North Gaza Massacre That Killed 93, Aid Group Says Victims of the strike face next to no options for treatment as Israel has destroyed north Gaza’s health care system. By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT October 30, 2024 Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks during the Security Council emergency meeting on Israeli airstrikes against Iran requested by Russia, Algeria and China at UN Headquarters. NEWS | HUMAN RIGHTS US’s UN Ambassador Slammed for Unfounded Attack on UN Palestine Expert The attack is “clearly intended to hide your criminal complicity in an ongoing genocide,” one group said. By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT October 30, 2024 Palestinian children amongst the debris following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on October 4, 2024. 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NEWS | HUMAN RIGHTS CNN Guest Spews Hate at Mehdi Hasan: “I Hope Your Beeper Doesn’t Go Off” The conservative went on to suggest that Hasan is a “supporter of Hamas.” By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT October 29, 2024 A member of the United Nations is checking the destruction at a school run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) that was previously hit by Israeli bombardment, in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 15, 2024. NEWS | HUMAN RIGHTS Israeli Knesset’s Ban on UNRWA Slammed as Horrific, Violation of UN Charter The bills, passed on Monday, are “nothing less than collective punishment,” said UNRWA’s leader. By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT October 29, 2024 People inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike that targeted an area in Khan Yunis on the southern Gaza Strip on October 25, 2024. NEWS | HUMAN RIGHTS Over 1,000 Authors Sign Letter Vowing to Boycott Israeli Literary Institutions Campaign organizers say it’s the largest cultural boycott of Israel ever declared. By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT October 28, 2024 A picture shows the damage to an ambulance at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2024. NEWS | HUMAN RIGHTS Israeli Forces Arrest All But 1 Doctor at Last Operational North Gaza Hospital “The smell of death has spread around the hospital,” one official said. By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT October 28, 2024 People exit through rubble following Israeli bombardment on the four-story Muqat family house in the Zarqa neighborhood in the north of Gaza City, on October 26, 2024. NEWS | HUMAN RIGHTS Israel May Kill Every Palestinian Left in North Gaza, UN Official Warns “What Israeli forces are doing in besieged North Gaza cannot be allowed to continue,” the human rights official said. By Olivia Rosane , COMMONDREAMS