Israeli army proposes Gaza evacuation plan
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Israel’s military proposed a plan for evacuating civilians from “areas of fighting” in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on MONDAY, AFTER HE SAID A GROUND INVASION OF RAFAH was necessary.
Foreign governments and aid organizations have repeatedly expressed fears that an invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city would inflict mass civilian casualties.
More than 1.4 million Palestinians — most of them displaced from elsewhere in the Strip — have converged on the last Gazan city untouched by Israel’s ground troops.
It is also the entry point for desperately needed aid, brought in via neighboring Egypt.
Israel’s military “presented the War Cabinet with a plan for evacuating the population from areas of fighting in the Gaza Strip, and with the upcoming operational plan,” a statement in Hebrew from Netanyahu’s office said on Monday.
The statement did not give any details about how or where the civilians would be moved.
The announcement comes after Egyptian, Qatari and United States “experts” met in Doha for talks also attended by Israeli and Hamas representatives, statelinked Egyptian media reported, the latest effort to secure a truce before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Israel’s ally Washington said ongoing mediation efforts produced “an understanding” toward a ceasefire and hostage release, while a Hamas source said the group insisted on the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
But Netanyahu — who has dismissed the withdrawal demand as “delusional” — said a ground invasion of Rafah would put Israel within weeks of “total victory” over Hamas, whose October 7 attacks triggered the war.
“If we have a (truce) deal, it will be delayed somewhat, but it will happen,” he said of the ground invasion in an interview with CBS on Sunday. “It has to be done because total victory is our goal and total victory is within reach — not months away, [but] weeks away, once we begin the operation.”
Amid a spiraling humanitarian crisis, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) urged political action to avert famine in Gaza.
Dire food shortages in northern Gaza are “a manmade disaster” that can be mitigated, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said.
“Famine can still be avoided through genuine political will to grant access and protection to meaningful assistance,” he added.
The UN has said it faces restrictions, particularly on aid deliveries to northern Gaza.
‘No aid’
Nearly five months into the war, desperate families in Gaza’s north have been forced to scavenge for something to eat.
“We have no food or drink for ourselves or our children,” Omar al-Kahlout told Agence FrancePresse (AFP), as he waited near Gaza City for aid trucks to arrive. “We are trapped in the north, and there is no aid reaching us. The situation is extremely difficult.”
Hundreds of Palestinians headed south whichever way they could, walking down garbage-strewn roads between the blackened shells of bombed-out buildings, said an AFP correspondent.
Israeli forces have continued striking targets across the Palestinian territory, with the Hamasrun Health Ministry saying early on Monday that 92 people were killed overnight.
Mediators have voiced hope that a temporary truce and a hostage-prisoner exchange can be secured before the start of Ramadan on March 10 or 11, depending on the lunar calendar.
Jordan’s King Abdullah 2nd warned that fighting during the holy month “will increase the threat of expanding the conflict,” a royal statement said.
Media reports suggest the warring parties are weighing a six-week halt to fighting and the initial exchange of dozens of female, underage and ill hostages for several hundred Palestinian detainees held by Israel.