Qassam Muaddi
Mondoweiss / October 10, 2024
Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 184 Palestinians since last Tuesday, October 8, according to the Gaza branch of the Palestinian Health Ministry. On Thursday alone, 54 Palestinians were killed in multiple strikes, according to the Ministry’s daily report.
Israel’s siege of parts of northern Gaza entered its sixth day on Thursday, sealing off Beit Lahia and Jabalia as the Israeli army launched a military invasion of the area, which houses an estimated 200,000 people.
Analysts have considered Israel’s current operations in northern Gaza to be the first step in implementing the vision laid out by retired Israeli general Giora Eiland.
Analysts have considered Israel’s current operations in northern Gaza to be the first step in implementing the vision laid out by retired Israeli general Giora Eiland in an article he published in the early months of the war. Eiland’s article received the endorsement of several Israeli military officials and generals earlier in September and has since come to be called the “Generals’ plan” in the media. The plan aims at sealing off northern Gaza and rendering it uninhabitable, forcing the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in it to flee to the south and turn the entire north into a depopulated military area.
The plan aims at sealing off northern Gaza and rendering it uninhabitable, forcing the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in it to flee to the south and turn the entire north into a depopulated military area.
Due to this proposal, Eiland was specifically included in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which ruled that Israel was plausibly committing genocide in Gaza. In late September, Netanyahu reportedly told Israeli lawmakers that he was considering the “Generals’ plan”, two weeks before Israeli forces began their new invasion of Jabalia, which resulted in sealing off the refugee camp last Sunday and the start of a military siege.
In the early weeks of its assault on Gaza after October 7, Israel forced around a million Palestinians to leave their homes in the north, ordering them into crowded areas in the governorates of Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah, which it also attacked and continues to bombard.
Israel continues to refuse the return of displaced Palestinians to the north, a major point of contention in stalled ceasefire talks, as Israeli forces have established a military zone along the south of Gaza City, known as the Netzarim corridor, which effectively cuts off the north of the strip from the center and the south.
Eyewitnesses from Jabalia who spoke to Mondoweiss earlier in the week reported soldiers and quadcopter attack drones shooting civilians carrying pieces of white cloth attempting to evacuate, using Jabalia residents as human shields, and indiscriminate bombardment and artillery shelling.
The Palestinian Civil Defense reported that many bodies continue to lie in the streets and that its crews are unable to retrieve them due to Israeli fire. The Israeli army ordered inhabitants in several parts of Jabalia to evacuate earlier in the week, and many have already fled their homes. Evacuation orders also included the Kamal Adwan, al-Awda, and Indonesian hospitals.
Israel began the current ground invasion of Jabalia last Sunday, the third such major invasion since October 7 of last year, while tightening its siege on the northern Gaza Strip.
Qassam Muaddi is the Palestine Staff Writer for Mondoweiss
