In a new development in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the Israeli intelligence ministry has developed a plan to displace the Gaza civilians to Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.
This is according to the leaked document, which is dated Friday, October 13, six days after Hamas militants killed 1,400 people in southern Israel and took over 220 hostages, triggering a devastating Israeli war in Gaza.
The document first published by the Sicha Mekomit news website, proposed moving the civilian population from Gaza to “tent cities” in northern Sinai, then building permanent cities and a humanitarian corridor.
The document included three alternatives
- The 2.3 million population remaining in Gaza and the return of the Palestinian Authority to the strip
- The population remaining in Gaza and the emergence of local Arab rule
- The displacement of the population from Gaza to Sinai.
The document indicated that “The first and second alternatives suffer from major shortcomings, especially with regard to their strategic consequences and their inability to be implemented in the long term. Neither of them will provide the necessary deterrent effect.”
It added, “The third alternative will achieve strategic results, is a possible alternative, and requires the support of the United States in order to achieve its goals.”
The document emphasizes the necessity for Israel to secure support from regional powers such as Turkey, Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia for its success.
Some nations could be encouraged to accept displaced Palestinians as refugees or permanent citizens, it added.
On October 30, Israeli authorities admitted for the first time that the ministry of intelligence had proposed such a proposal.
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office downplayed this report and described it as merely a hypothetical exercise — a “concept paper”.
In recent weeks, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi have rejected the transfer of the Palestinian population from the Gaza Strip to Sinai.
Under the bombing and threats have resulted in the displacement of approximately 1.4 million Palestinians out of the 2.3 million people in Gaza.
For 25 days, the Israeli army has launched intensive raids on residential neighbourhoods in Gaza, killing more than 8,306 people, including 3,457 children, and wounding 21,048.
