ISRAEL has appeared to officially acknowledge the systematic removal of Palestinians from northern Gaza after the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) told reporters residents will not be allowed to return home.
Suspicions had already been forming that Israel’s Government is executing a plan it had officially distanced itself from, known as the “generals’ plan”.
Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, IDF brigadier general Itzik Cohen said that some troops have invaded areas in northern Gaza twice, and so to prevent a third effort, “there is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes”.
He also revealed that since there are “no more civilians left” in northern Gaza, humanitarian aid will not enter the northern part of the region. Cohen said it would be allowed "regular" entry in the south.
However, there are still residents in the north, who currently report recent operations have created some of the worst conditions in the area since the invasion began.
Last week, an Israeli strike on a five-story building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 60 people, more than half of them women and children, Gaza’s health ministry said.
At least 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate from areas of north Gaza in the past few weeks, but around 15,000 children under the age of 10 remain in northern towns, including Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, which are inaccessible, according to the UN.
The IDF's comments come as the Israeli military has expanded its month-long ground operation in northern Gaza to a town that has been heavily bombed since the earliest days of the war.
The military said in a statement on Thursday that “troops started to operate” in the area of Beit Lahiya after intelligence indicated the presence of militants there.
The plan is suspected to depopulate northern Gaza by giving the Palestinians trapped there an opportunity to evacuate and then treating those who stay as combatants – leading to a siege.
Israel has reportedly insisted that the plan has not been adopted.
Former first minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf shared the news of the IDF's comments on social media and said: "Clearing out one ethnic group of people to replace them with another. The very textbook definition of ethnic cleansing.
"What more will it take for you to speak out?"
