Challenges to Israeli Regime Plan to Fully Occupy Gaza Strip

According to Al Jazeera, the Zionist Israeli regime's security cabinet on Friday, in a move that indicates a dangerous escalation of the situation in the Gaza war, approved a plan to completely occupy the strip, which will begin with the capture of Gaza City and the forced displacement of its residents.

Regarding the plan, international relations commentators and observers are warning about the numerous dangers of such a decision. The British and American media examined the details of the plan to occupy Gaza and its humanitarian, political and military consequences, as well as the different reactions to it.

The British newspaper The i Paper quoted the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as claiming that the plan includes "principles for ending the Gaza war, providing humanitarian aid outside of the combat zones, and handing over the Gaza Strip to a civilian government."

Forcible displacement of Gaza residents

The i Paper highlighted that Tel Aviv's plan will begin with the occupation of Gaza City itself and the forced evacuation of its residents to the south, especially the coastal area of Al-Mawasi. According to a report by the Israeli Channel 12 TV, the United States will provide logistical and humanitarian support to the plan through a temporary civilian infrastructure. meanwhile, the observers estimate that control over Gaza City and the central areas will take approximately 5 months.

According to the British newspaper's report, while Netanyahu claims that this plan is to eliminate Hamas and ensure the security of the Zionists, experts and observers confirm that this step could lead to a new wave of displacement, intensify the famine crisis that has spread to entire Gaza, and endanger the lives of the Zionist regime's prisoners of war in Gaza.

The Washington Post, citing sources familiar with the details of the Israeli cabinet meeting to approve the Gaza takeover plan, reported that the transfer of Gaza City residents to alternative areas will take about two months.

Aaron Bergman, a military expert at King's College London, has said that, "given that almost 90 percent of Gaza's population has been displaced, the plan to occupy Gaza will lead to further displacement. Any complete blockade of Gaza will make delivering aid to the strip much more complicated than before, and the whole of Gaza will effectively become a combat zone."

Obstacles and challenges facing the Zionists' full occupation of Gaza plan

He said that the Zionist army is completely exhausted in terms of equipment and manpower and needs to mobilize reserves to occupy the remaining 25 percent of Gaza, and all forces are now completely exhausted. There are currently about 4 military divisions in the Gaza Strip; while at least six divisions are needed to completely occupy the Gaza Strip.

Rob Geist Pinfold, an international security lecturer at King’s College London, has explained Israel’s plan to displace 600,000 Palestinians from Gaza by making the territory unlivable.

The i Paper further reported that political commentators warn that Gaza takeover would also endanger the lives of Israeli prisoners in the strip held by the resistance fighters, as they could be killed by the Israeli army's friendly forces. The plan is also facing opposition within the army itself, with Eyal Zamir, its chief of staff of Israeli military stressing that the forces are exhausted and that there is not enough equipment and troops; especially since the plan to occupy Gaza would require a massive mobilization of reservists, amid growing public opposition to continuing the war.

According to that British newspaper, analysts believe that hardline ministers in Netanyahu's cabinet, especially Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, are trying to turn the temporary occupation of Gaza into a permanent one and displace Palestinians from the strip to lay the ground for new settlements.

Burcu Ozcelik a fellow researcher at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) has argued that the plan for the full takeover of Gaza would be a dark phase in the war with far-reaching regional and international consequences. It would further isolate Tel Aviv internationally and might persuade countries hesitant to recognize a Palestinian state to give up.

Moreover, Yossi Mekelberg, a fellow at Chatham House in London, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs argued that the Gaza occupation plan may be the beginning of a more extreme version of Tel Aviv's goals in the Gaza war under the influence of far-right ministers in Netanyahu's cabinet.