The “Generals’ Plan” involves activities for Israel to fully force Palestinians out of northern Gaza and conquer it altogether.
What is the first stage of the Generals’ Plan?
The first aim behind this plan is to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching northern Gaza and to use starvation as a pressure lever on Hamas, which itself has two stages;
First, the “evacuation of the population from the north of the Gaza Strip”. This has been part of the Israeli army’s thinking even before the Generals’ plan was devised. In November 2023, the Israeli army announced that 95 percent of northern Gaza residents had left for the south and were not expected to return.
However, about 400,000 Palestinians currently remain in the northern Gaza Strip. Most of them have taken shelter in areas that the Israel army has ordered them to leave and move to the heavily populated al-Mawasi region in the south. Some refugees have been displaced even more than 10 times.
Moving south, the Palestinians will pass through the Netzarim Corridor, an Israeli-built military zone that runs east-west through the middle of the Gaza Strip.
In February, Channel 14 News reported that a fortified road was being built inside the corridor, which would complete the blockade of the northern Gaza Strip and make it easier to drive civilians out of the area.
What is the second stage of the Generals’ plan?
Once the Palestinians have withdrawn from northern Gaza, which the plan predicts will take a week, the second phase can begin, that is, turning northern Gaza into a closed military zone.
According to the plan’s designers, the area will be under “a complete and severe siege, which will include blocking movement to and from it, and preventing the entry of resources, including food, fuel and water.”
Anyone who remains will be treated as a Hamas fighter. A YouTube video of the plan states that Hamas operatives who remain can “surrender or die of starvation.”
What has been Israel’s reaction to the Generals’ plan?
The idea behind the plan, to drive Palestinians from their land, has always been popular among the Israeli right-wing. In fact, this mass movement of the population of Gaza has been one of the main stated goals of Israel since the beginning of the war.
The expulsion of the Palestinian people has been mentioned many times in the statements of the right-wing leaders of the Israeli government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. In November 2023, Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter also called for another Nakba to be carried out in the Gaza Strip, a reference to the forced expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians in 1948, when the state of Israel was established.
When does the Generals’ plan start?
Many observers believe that the implementation of the plan has already started.
Israeli media reported in September that the military’s support for the plan was growing. On September 9, Eliezer Toledano, head of the military’s strategic division in Israel informed government ministers that the military was already developing plans to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid. The United Nations reported on October 11 that “no food aid has arrived there [in the northern Gaza Strip] since October 1” and that the main crossings to these areas have been closed.
Avichai Edri, the spokesman of the Israeli army, also issued an evacuation notice on October 7, 2024 for the residents of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and other areas of Gaza City. Two days later, the Israeli army launched a major attack on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. The army ordered the evacuation of three hospitals simultaneously.
Considering the widespread support of the Israeli government and army for this plan, the question arises whether the army will soon try to start the second phase of the plan, which is the occupation of the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
