Israel is preparing to divide Gaza’s residents into three tightly-controlled strips of land unless Hamas accepts a ceasefire deal in a matter of days, reports citing leaked plans suggest.
Hamas and Israel resumed ceasefire talks on Saturday in Qatar, as the Israeli military ramped up a bombing campaign that has killed hundreds of people in the past 72 hours, and launched a major new ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s military ordered Palestinians to move to the south of Gaza earlier this week, as it began seizing control of further parts of the Strip as “part of preparations” for the advance it dubbed Operation Gideon’s Chariots.
But in a new development – reported on the anniversary of the Nakba, the “catastrophe” in which an estimated 750,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes in 1948 – further plans to carve up Gaza and its people emerged on Saturday.
A map leaked by diplomats to The Times, reportedly shows plans for three tightly controlled strips of civilian land in southern, central and northern Gaza, separated by four exclusively military zones.
Under the plans, titled “Stage Three: the complete takeover of Gaza”, Palestinians would be forbidden to move between the strips without permission, potentially separating people from their land and homes, foreign firms briefed on the plans and tasked with distributing humanitarian aid told the outlet.
According to The Times, roads and infrastructure are already being built on the remains of people’s homes, with the clearing of land needed for the new and expanded military zones expected to take at least three weeks.
The Israeli military neither confirmed nor denied the plans, according to the outlet. The Independent has sought further information from Israel.
It comes a month after Israel announced plans for a new military strip in southern Gaza named the Morag Corridor. Observers at Goldsmiths, University of London’s Forensic Architecture studio said on Friday that Israel had destroyed dozens of homes in the remains of Rafah city and built several new military outposts.
And last week, Mr Netanyahu said Israel’s security cabinet had approved a plan to “conquer” Gaza and establish a “sustained presence” there, in which the “population will be moved, for its own protection”.
Israeli officials had suggested the so-called Gideon’s Chariot offensive would begin in earnest once Donald Trump’s four-day tour of the Middle East had concluded.
The US president left the region on Friday, without having visited Israel. On Saturday, defence minister Israel Katz said Gideon’s Chariots was under way and was being led with “great force” by Israel’s military.
While Mr Trump issued a warning that “a lot of people are starving” in Gaza, without mentioning Israel’s blockade, the US president’s apparently sympathetic tone was tempered further as reports emerged suggesting his administration was considering a plan to permanently relocate as many as a million Gazans to Libya.
White House sources told NBC News that the idea had been discussed with Libya’s leadership and was being seriously considered. In exchange, Washington would release billions of dollars of funds to Libya that the US froze more than a decade ago.
Mr Trump first suggested relocating Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants back in February, drawing fierce criticism from the international community. He also spoke of turning Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
At least 300 people have been killed in Gaza since Thursday morning, as one of the deadliest phases of Israel’s bombardment continued for a third consecutive day.
Palestinian health authorities said at least 150 people had been killed in the past 24 hours, with many hundreds more being treated in hospital, and countless others still buried under rubble. More than 3,000 have been killed since Israel broke a January ceasefire on 18 March.
Israel insists its offensive is aimed at defeating Hamas and securing the release of the remaining 58 hostages seized in the group’s cross-border incursion on 7 October 2023, which sparked the war and left 1,200 people in Israel dead.
Israel believes as many as 23 of the hostages in Gaza are still alive, although Israeli authorities have expressed concern for the status of three of them.
On Saturday afternoon, an Israeli strike killed at least four children in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the bodies. Seven others were wounded in the strike, which hit a house. A later strike in Jabaliya killed four, the hospital said.
“This is unacceptable. Until when? Until we all die?” said Naji Awaisa, as he and others fled the camp with their belongings.
Airstrikes around Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed 14 people, with the bodies arriving at al-Aqsa hospital. One strike on a house killed eight people, including parents and four children.
A strike also landed outside a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, killing four, health officials said.
Gaza is in the third month of an Israeli blockade with no food, water, fuel or other goods entering the territory of more than 2 million people. Food security experts say Gaza will be in famine if the blockade is not lifted.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people marched through London to mark the anniversary of Nakba.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign said the march was intended to “mark the 77th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba and demand our government take action to end the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land”.
Additional reporting by AP
