Northern Gaza Strip: “We will not leave”

As the world looks to Lebanon, the pressure on the Gaza Strip is intensifying. Hospitals have to close, living conditions deteriorate and people are forced to leave the area again. But some stay.

The day before yesterday there was a voice message from Hossam Abu Safia. He is the Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Northern Gaza. The hospital endured a year of war. Now, according to the leader, that is coming to an end. All patients, injured and medical staff – must be evacuated from the hospital within 24 hours.

The Israeli army directly informed Hossam Abu Safia about this. “They threatened me that if we don’t leave tomorrow, the hospital will be in danger. Destroying the entire health system, including the hospitals, and evacuating our people from the north of the Gaza Strip seems to be a new strategy.”

Meanwhile, Hossam Abu Safih Hospital is said to have stopped working. If you look at the maps where the zones to be evacuated are marked, it is clear: the north of the Gaza Strip must be evacuated. There are reports of heavy fighting with Hamas. Thousands of fighters are said to be back in the area already captured by Israel.

“The Plan of the Generals”

What is now being openly implemented is referred to in Israel as the “Generals’ Plan”. Geora Eiland was one of these generals. He was once the chairman of the National Security Council. Now he has released a video in which he explains the plan using diagrams and martial music.

“It would be right to say to the people of the north: We are not advising you to leave the north of the Gaza Strip. We are ordering you to do so.” There are two secure corridors guarded by the Israeli army. Food and water are available to anyone who ventures out of the north. But within a week, the entire northern part of the Gaza Strip will be declared a demilitarized zone, and no aid will be allowed inside this demilitarized zone. “The 5,000 terrorists in this area may then give up or starve to death,” said Geora Eiland.

Army assumes responsibility for supply

Some are concerned with the fight against Hamas. Others, like right-wing extremist minister Bezalel Smodrich, have long had more far-reaching plans for the northern Gaza Strip. He is responsible for the civilian administration of the Palestinian territories, and is satisfied that the army should take care of the people in Gaza.

I am very happy that the Prime Minister has finally ordered the transfer of responsibility for humanitarian assistance to the Army. That is important. But they still disagreed on another point – the question of settlement. Smodrich takes a clear position on this: “Where there are no Jewish settlements, it will be difficult to maintain a military presence in the long term.”

Aid Institutions Warning sound

New Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip – that’s Smodrich’s dream. A prerequisite is a planned depopulation, probably already underway. Some talk about genocide.

Aid organizations such as Sarah Wuilsteck, who coordinates aid in the Gaza Strip for Doctors Without Borders, are sounding the alarm. She said that ARD-Studio Tel Aviv: “This recent violent displacement of thousands of people from the northern Gaza Strip to the south turns the north into a barren desert and worsens the situation in the south, where more than a million people already live in disastrous conditions in a small area. The Gaza Strip.”

Water, medicine and protection are already scarce. How more people could fit in this small space was inconceivable. “In the last twelve months, people have been subjected to endless displacement and constant bombing,” insists Sara Wuilstek. “This has to stop.”

“We ate animal food”

And the people in the north? We reach Naima Ayob. She was 21 and a student until the war. His family’s home in Gaza City has not yet been destroyed. She also leaves a voice message: She and her family want to stay.

According to the United Nations, about 400,000 people still live in the north of the Gaza Strip. Their expulsion to the south will worsen the humanitarian crisis.