More than a year into Israel’s war in Gaza, it is hard to talk of “escalation”. Because to isolate single moments of military escalation, such as Israel’s attack on Iran on Saturday, seems to suggest that otherwise, what is taking place in Gaza is normal or acceptable. Perhaps, instead, we can talk of confrontation. Perhaps we can talk about how, over the past couple of weeks, Israel’s campaign in northern Gaza has confronted the world with what has become increasingly difficult to deny: ethnic cleansing is upon the residents of Gaza. Civilians, including children, are being killed in ways that can only suggest an indiscriminate assault to eliminate Palestinians, or scare them into moving en masse from ever-expanding zones of death and starvation. “The entire population of northern Gaza,” said the UN’s acting humanitarian chief on Saturday, “is at risk of dying.”
Where are they to go? Well, we also have an answer to this question. Earlier this month, a conference called Preparing to Resettle Gaza, attended by hundreds of people, was held outside the Gaza Strip. Within earshot of artillery and gunfire, Israelis gathered to decide what to do with Gaza and those who live in it once the war is over. One young woman suggested: “We should kill them, every one of them.” Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was a little more reasonable. “We will encourage voluntary transfer of all Gazan citizens,” he said. “We will offer them the opportunity to move to other countries because that land belongs to us.”
