Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the country’s parliament he is considering the military’s so-called “Generals’ Plan,” which would evacuate all residents from northern Gaza to lay complete siege to the area, a new report says.
The PM told Knesset members Sunday that his cabinet would be examining the plan, which is not backed by the US, to take control of northern Gaza as Hamas continues to regroup in the area even after a year of war, the Times of Israel reported.
Former Israel Defense Force Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland laid forth the plan last week before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He told the panel’s members that the plan would ensure Israel’s victory and free the hostages at a time when the cease-fire talks with Hamas lie frozen.
“We have to tell the residents of north Gaza that they have one week to evacuate the territory, which then becomes a military zone; [a zone] in which every figure is a target and, most importantly, no supplies enter this territory,” Eliand said of the proposed incursion.
Eiland, who has received backing from senior IDF reservists, said the plan would cover the entire area north of the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza City, with the forced evacuation estimated to affect about 250,000 people.
After the evacuation, IDF troops would then systematically arrest or eradicate the members of the terror group who stayed behind, and any terrorist who avoids the troops would eventually “starve to death.”
Eliand and other senior IDF reservists claim the plan is necessary to end Hamas’ repeated resurgence in northern Gaza.
He said the plan would also land a blow to Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
“What matters to Sinwar is land and dignity, and with this maneuver, you take away both land and dignity,” Eliand told the lawmakers.
Netanyahu has previously stated that he believes military pressure is the best way to free the estimated 97 Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas.
Speaking to the Knesset on Sunday, he denied claims that he is standing in the way of the stalled hostage deal, blaming Hamas for allegedly demanding new revisions not outlined in the US-backed proposal.
The families of the hostages have accused Netanyahu of putting his war aims over the captives’ safety, citing his office’s insistence that the IDF maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Hamas rejected the latest peace proposal over the demand last month, continuing to leave the cease-fire talks frozen.
As the US and its fellow mediators work to try to bridge the gaps in the deal, White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said Hamas is getting in the way of a diplomatic solution to the war.
“It doesn’t appear that Mr. Sinwar is prepared at all to keep negotiating in good faith, especially after he murdered six hostages in a tunnel execution-style,” Kirby told ABC’s “This Week.”
Kirby was referencing the deaths of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, and five other captives who were fatally shot in the head by Hamas in August.
