Leaked plan suggests Israel aims to control 75% of Gaza in two months
Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza Israel intends to control three quarters of Gaza's territory within two months, according to a plan shared with Israeli media which suggest Palestinians could be relocated to three small zones in the strip. About 40 per cent of Gaza is occupied, according to Israeli estimates, but the military expects that to rise to 75 per cent within two months, under the plan reported by outlets including the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post. Those reports say civilians would be divided between three areas in northern, central and southern Gaza. One would be in Gaza City, a second in Deir Al Balah and the third in Al Mawasi in the south, where many evicted Gazans have already been forced to relocate to a "safe zone" that has come under repeated attacks. The plan is described as aiming to push Hamas into a state of collapse and force it to negotiate on Israeli terms. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that 20 hostages held by the militant group were "certainly alive". Mr Netanyahu says Israel has eliminated dozens of Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar and his brother Mohammed Sinwar. The leaked plan would be Israel's latest shift towards seeking control of large areas of Gaza, in addition to fighting Hamas militants. Israel's military said in a statement that chief of staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir told troops on a visit to Khan Younis, in Gaza, on Sunday that "this is not an endless war" and that Hamas has lost most of its assets, including its command and control. "We will deploy every tool at our disposal to bring the hostages home, dismantle Hamas and dismantle its rule," Lt Gen Zamir was quoted as saying. Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza in mid-March after a two-month ceasefire and set about seizing large areas of territory. Mr Netanyahu previously expressed a desire to relocate Gazans to other countries. Israel also hopes to take control of aid distribution in the strip, where it blocked humanitarian deliveries for 11 weeks before allowing modest supplies to resume last week. Cindy McCain, the executive director of the UN World Food Programme, on Sunday denied Israel's claims that Hamas is looting food lorries. "These people are desperate," she told CBS News. "They see a World Food Programme truck coming in and they run for it. This doesn't have anything to do with Hamas or any kind of organised crime or anything. This has simply to do with the fact these people are starving to death.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Khaleej Times
an hour ago
- Khaleej Times
Germany to boost military by up to 60,000 troops under new Nato targets
Germany needs up to 60,000 additional troops under new Nato targets for weapons and personnel, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday, as the alliance beefs up its forces to respond to what it sees as an increased threat from Russia. "We are stepping up to our responsibility as Europe's largest economy," Pistorius told reporters ahead of a meeting with his Nato counterparts in Brussels that signed off on the new targets. The fresh demands are tailored to the alliance's new defence plans - thousands of pages of secret documents drawn up for the first time since the end of the Cold War — that detail how allied forces would respond to a Russian attack on Nato. Translating these plans into the military tools needed, Nato found severe shortfalls in various areas - ranging from large formations of combat-ready ground troops to long-range weapons, sufficient ammunition stockpiles and secure communications. Pointing to the secret nature of the targets, Nato chief Mark Rutte only gave a rough outline of the gaps the alliance seeks to plug. "We have to invest in our air defence systems, we have to invest in our long-range missiles, we have to invest in our manoeuvrable land-formations, command and control systems - all of this has to happen," Rutte told reporters, adding that all this would require huge investments. In total, the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, will need roughly 50,000 to 60,000 additional active soldiers across all branches of the military, said Pistorius. This would put the future strength of Germany's armed forces at between 250,000 and 260,000 troops. BIG CHALLENGE Last week, Reuters reported that Nato would ask Germany to provide seven more army brigades alone, or some 40,000 troops. Sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity, put the target for the total number of brigades that Natoallies will have to provide in future at between 120 and 130, a hike of some 50% from the current target of around 80 brigades. Recruiting tens of thousands of extra troops will be a big challenge for Berlin, however, and will likely spark a fresh debate on whether conscription - suspended in 2011 - should be reintroduced. The Bundeswehr has not yet met a target of 203,000 troops set in 2018, and is currently short-staffed by some 20,000 regular troops, according to defence ministry data. Pistorius said the government would be faced with the question of whether the voluntary military service it aims to introduce will be sufficient to fill the Bundeswehr's ranks. Still, he warned that the military currently could not absorb a larger number of conscripts due to a lack of barracks and trainers. "Until we have such capacities, we'll have a voluntary service - and maybe beyond that if we are an attractive employer and win enough young men and women for the military who agree to serve for a longer time."
Khaleej Times
an hour ago
- Khaleej Times
Rate of Gaza children suffering acute malnutrition nearly triples, survey shows
The rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza has nearly tripled since a ceasefire earlier this year when aid flowed more freely, according to data collected by humanitarian groups and released by the U.N. on Thursday. The report was issued at a time when aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave is under intense scrutiny because of deadly shootings close to the operations of a new U.S.-backed system. After the two-month ceasefire broke down in March, Israel blockaded aid supplies into Gaza for 11 weeks, prompting a famine warning from a global hunger monitor. Israel, which has only partially lifted the blockade since, vets all aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing some of it - something the militant group denies. Around 5.8% out of nearly 50,000 children under five who were screened in the second half of May were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, an analysis by a group of U.N. and other aid agencies known as the nutrition cluster showed. This was up from 4.7% in early May and nearly three times the rate in February during a pause in fighting in the 20-month war between Israel and Hamas, the analysis said. It did not specify the exact rate in February, nor say how many children were screened. The analysis also reported an increase in severe acute malnutrition cases among children -- a life-threatening condition that compromises the immune system. It said centres to support medical complications from severe cases in north Gaza and Rafah in the south of the enclave have been forced to close, leaving children without access to lifesaving treatment. It did not give a reason for the closures but many medical centres have run out of supplies, been damaged in the war or attacked by Israel, which accuses Hamas of using them for military purposes. Hamas denies using them in this way. A Palestinian minister reported 29 starvation-related deaths among the children and elderly in just a few days last month. Separately, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday that doctors in the Gaza Strip were donating their own blood to save their patients after scores of Palestinians were gunned down while trying to get food aid.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
British relatives say Israeli aid is death trap for Gazans
British Palestinians have described the challenges that their families in Gaza are going through to get food as part of a plea for tougher action by the UK government on Israel. Wafaa Shamallakh, who works as a medical interpreter in London, described how her sister Maysa in Gaza, spent hours yesterday waiting for her husband and son to return from an aid distribution point on the Netzarim border. Maysa's husband and son Joud, 15, walked for more than an hour to reach the aid distribution point, but were forced to turn back owing to the chaos they found there. 'Thousands of people were there, coming from the north and the south of Gaza, desperate to find a bag of flour, a little sugar, maybe some pasta. It was chaos. A quadcopter flew overhead shooting at crowds,' she said. Fire and smoke bombs made it difficult for them to see. Her cousin Khaled was injured. The pair returned empty-handed that day. 'My twin nieces, Dima and Rima cried when they saw their father return with nothing. But my sister Maysa was relieved, because at least they came back alive,' she said. 'This is what it means to survive in Gaza. This is their daily life, fetching food has become a battle of survival,' she said. The family were living in tents, with 'no insulation, no water, no electricity', where they cook over fires from wood collected from the rubble. 'My sister spends hours just trying to find enough work to earn a piece of bread.' The family may have two meals on a 'lucky' days, having lentil soup for breakfast, or sharing a piece of bread in the evening. Often they 'go hungry so their children can eat'. Israel has imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip since March. A US and Israeli attempt to introduce their own aid distribution mechanism through US security contractor the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation last week has backfired. The GHF closed its distribution centres on Wednesday after several deadly shooting incidents killed scores of Palestinians and drew sharp UN condemnation. It then delayed the reopening of its aid sites on Thursday, without clarifying when they would resume service, as starvation looms in the war-ravaged enclave. People were journeying for days from different parts of Gaza to get access to food the distribution points in Rafah – but were forced to turn back owing to the scenes of chaos when they arrived. Bassem Farajallah, a British Palestinian, described how his nephew Nour travelled from Gaza city to Nusayra, from which he was then forced to walk to Rafah owing to an Israeli prohibition of vehicles there. On arrival, he found 'nothing, only danger and gunfire'. 'In the end, he managed to buy a small amount of flour for nearly 100 dollars,' he said. He was gone for three days, and Mr Farajallah described the huge emotional toll on his sister, Nour's mother, as she waited for him to return. The family has not seen meat or chicken in more than a year, and his sister a diabetic with high blood pressure, survives on bread that is stretched with salt and pasta. UK urged to take action UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer changed his tone on Gaza this week, describing the humanitarian crisis as 'intolerable' during a press conference in Scotland. Reiterating his comments in Parliament, he said on Wednesday: 'We will keep looking at further action along with our allies, including sanctions, but let me be absolutely clear: we need to get back to a ceasefire.' Though he met British Palestinians in October last year, there was a prevailing sense from the community that they were being ignored. 'I want them to look genuinely at us, to sit with us and listen and consider our demands. Listen to that community, which has families back in Gaza,' Mr Farajallah told The National. Ms Shamallakh said she felt let down by the British government's response to the conflict, which until recently supported Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The new Labour government said it would be guided by international law in its response to the conflict. Last month, it suspended new trade talks with Israel, imposed a new round of sanctions of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, and summoned the Israeli ambassador to the UK. But those measures were undermined by the UK Trade envoy's visit to Israel the following week. Ms Shamallakh called on the UK government to impose a full embargo, political and economic sanctions, and assert 'real pressure to bring an end to the genocide' and ensure unhindered humanitarian aid access. 'Let this be a turning point where Britain stops whispering about international law and starts upholding it, because the people of Gaza are not waiting for your sympathy, they are demanding your courage,' she said.
