Israeli government admits internal report recommended forcing all Gazans into Egypt
Israel has acknowledged that a government ministry drafted a report proposing the forced, permanent transfer of Gaza’s population to Egypt, fuelling fears of a further catastrophic dispossession of Palestinians.
The 10-page document by Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence, dated the 13th of October, recommends the transfer of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, as the preferred option for securing Israel’s security at the end of the assault on Gaza.
The document recommended that civilians from Gaza be evacuated into northern Sinai where they would be housed in tent cities and serviced by a humanitarian corridor before permanent cities were built. A buffer zone of several kilometres would also be created along the border with Israel.
The report recommended that this strategy should be pitched to the international community as a humanitarian approach to minimising civilian casualties in Israel’s assault on Gaza and be accompanied by a push for Arab and Western countries to also take in Palestinian refugees. [Continue reading…]