Report: Israel Planning More Aggressive Invasion of Gaza
The IDF will take control of the humanitarian aid in
the Strip
by Kyle Anzalone March 23, 2025
https://news.antiwar.com/2025/03/23/report-israel-planning-more-aggressive-invasion-of-gaza/
According to the Washington Post,
the Israeli military is gearing up for a major ground operation in Gaza that
could last months or longer. Last week, Israel broke a ceasefire and hostage
deal with Hamas and conducted large-scale bombings in the Strip that killed
hundreds.
The Post spoke with current and
former Israeli officials, who explained that “The new and more aggressive
tactics” would probably include “direct military control of humanitarian aid,”
“targeting more of Hamas’s civilian leadership, and evacuating women, children
and vetted noncombatants from neighborhoods to ‘humanitarian bubbles.’”
The officials said those who are not evacuated would
face a siege that is a “more intense version of a tactic employed last year in
northern Gaza.” In 2024, the Israeli military carried out a version of the
“general’s plan,” an outline for ethnic cleansing drawn up by retired IDF
generals for Northern Gaza.
The plan called for the complete evacuation of all
Palestinian civilians south of the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land
controlled by the Israeli military. Under the plan, if civilians don’t leave,
they are to be treated as combatants and killed, either by military action or
starvation.
The Post reported the more brutal
strategy reflects a change in military leadership, and the new policy is more
in line with the view of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. IDF Chief of Staff
Herzi Halevi stepped down from that post earlier this month. He was replaced by
Eyal Zamir.
Amir Avivi, a former deputy commander of the
military’s Gaza division, explained to the Post that President
Donald Trump’s vigorous support for Tel Aviv gives Israeli military commanders
more faith that they will have the equipment needed in Gaza.
“Now there is new [IDF] leadership, there is the
backup from the U.S., there is the fact that we have enough munitions, and the
fact that we finished our main missions in the north and can concentrate on
Gaza,” Avivi said. “The plans are decisive. There will be a full-scale attack
and they will not stop until Hamas is eradicated completely. We’ll see.”
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has decimated the Strip
and killed at least 50,000 Gazans. Still, Israeli and US officials have said
Hamas has returned to its prewar strength. The Post noted that the IDF would
not be less restrained in order to defeat Hamas.
Yossi Kuperwasser, a former senior IDF intelligence
official and head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security think
tank explained, “There is less opposition now with Zamir and [Defense Minister
Israel] Katz. They are more ready.”
“The government was committed to removing Hamas from
power,” Kuperwasser added. “The security establishment was not happy with this
idea. They were trying to focus more on military assets and less on civilian
assets. Because once you remove Hamas from Gaza, the IDF would have to rule
Gaza.”
While the Post report says the IDF
plans to wage a counterinsurgency in Gaza, Katz has said Tel Aviv will expel
the Palestinians and annex the Strip. “I have instructed the IDF to seize
additional areas in Gaza, while evacuating the population, and to expand the security
zones around Gaza for the protection of Israeli communities and IDF soldiers,”
he said on Friday.
On Saturday night, the Israeli Security Council established a new office that will coordinate the expulsion
of Palestinians from Gaza.
Since breaking the ceasefire and hostage deal last
week, Israel has resumed large-scale bombing in Gaza. Additionally, Israeli
troops have attacked Rafah in southern Gaza and the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.
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