Brussels – Another step toward the total occupation of the Gaza Strip. Overnight, the Israeli government’s security cabinet unanimously approved a plan to expand military operations in the territory already devastated by 18 months of carpet bombing: it envisages, among other things, moving the Palestinian population southward and keeping the territories under the control of the Israel Defense Forces. Tel Aviv has also concocted a scheme—rejected by the United Nations—to exclude UN agencies and international organizations from distributing humanitarian aid and outsource it to private contractors.
According to Israeli media reports, Operation “Gideon’s Chariots” will begin “by the end of U.S. President Donald Trump‘s visit to the region next week,” unless an agreement is reached with Hamas in the meantime to release the hostages still in the hands of the terrorist group. An ultimatum that, by reflex, affects the entire international community, which stands by watching the rehearsal of what several experts and independent organisations are calling a genocide. From Brussels, the usual appeal “for maximum restraint” and the refusal to consider any leverage—economic or diplomatic—to prevent the Israeli ally from continuing to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity with the complicity of the EU bloc.
The European Union “is concerned about the planned extension of the Israeli armed forces’ operation in Gaza, which will cause further casualties and suffering to the Palestinian population,” European Commission Foreign Affairs spokesman Anouar El Anouni said today (May 5) in his daily press briefing. Recalling that “the High Representative (Kaja Kallas, who, at the time of writing this article, has not made a statement yet, ed.) made it clear that the resumption of negotiations was the only way forward.” Since Israel resumed raids on the Palestinian enclave on March 18, decreeing the end of the ceasefire, more than 2,300 people have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In all, as of Oct. 7, 2023, there are about 52,400 verified Palestinian casualties from the war between Israel and Hamas.
According to a senior Israeli defence official to the Times of Israel, the plan approved by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government calls for “the extensive evacuation of the entire population of Gaza from the combat zones, including northern Gaza, to areas of southern Gaza, while creating a separation between it and Hamas terrorists to allow the IDF freedom of operational action.” Unlike hitherto, however, the Israeli military will “remain in each conquered area to prevent the return of terror.”
At a later date, “after the start of operational activities and a broad evacuation of the population to the south,” Israel would plan to remove the blockade on humanitarian aid entry, in place for more than two months. Tel Aviv has submitted to the United Nations a new limited distribution model in a “barren” area around Rafah, operated by private companies under the control of the Israeli military. In a tough statement, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) denounced a plan that “violates basic humanitarian principles and appears designed to tighten control over basic necessities as a pressure tactic as part of a military strategy.” According to the UN, “much of Gaza, including the least mobile and most vulnerable (among the civilian population there are reportedly nearly 120,000 wounded, ed.), will continue to be left without supplies.”
As Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, also stated, UN agencies and their humanitarian partners have made it clear that they “will not participate in any program that does not respect the global humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence, and neutrality.” In an act of courage, since more than 409 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, OCHA assures that “our teams remain in Gaza, ready to intensify again the delivery of essential goods and services: food, water, health care, nutrition, protection, and more.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
