“Surrender or Starve”: Israel Weighs Plan to Liquidate Northern Gaza as Siege on Jabaliya Intensifies

The general’s plan, what is called the plan offered by ex-Major General Giora Eiland, speaks about offering the Palestinian northern Gaza, north of the Netzarim Corridor, meaning all Gaza City and its surrounding, offering them a week to evacuate Gaza and go south to the humanitarian area, what is called, near the Mawasi, near Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. And then, after a week, there will be a total siege on northern Gaza, and a siege meaning no food, no water, no electricity, no medicine, nothing. And in a week time, all those who stay will be considered terrorists that could be hit. The idea is that the civil population will leave, only the Hamas militants will stay, and therefore Israel will be able to clean this area. This is the plan by General Eiland.

The plan was not adopted officially, neither by the government, although it is said that Netanyahu is considering it, and nor by the army officially. The operation now in Jabaliya that we heard about is officially not part of this plan, but it does seem that many parts of this plan are being implemented on the ground. We heard that there’s no supplies coming into northern Gaza at all in the last two weeks. We are seeing this evacuation order to the population of northern Gaza and to the hospitals in northern Gaza. So, we have the sense here that this plan is being actually implemented without being officially adopted.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to a piece that you wrote in +972. Haaretz also wrote about this “surrender or starve” plan that was proposed last fall by Major General Eiland. Explain who Major General Eiland is, the idea that anyone who remains behind would face hunger and be treated as Hamas operatives and legitimate military targets, as you’ve described, Meron, and what exactly this will constitute in Gaza.

MERON RAPOPORT: Again, the plan by Major General Eiland, and the ex-general, is, as I said, to give the population a week, an opportunity to leave within a week, and then there will be a siege, and those who stay will be considered as terrorists.

Eiland himself is not really a right-wing, in the sense he’s not part of the religious right. He’s not even a supporter of Netanyahu. He comes from a military background, even what is in Israel considered center-left background. So, he is not a fanatic supporter of Netanyahu, not at all.

He says, he claims in all his interviews that this conforms — that this plan conforms with international law, that siege is a legitimate way of war, as long as you give the population, the civil population, time to leave. What does not exist, really, in his plan — and I think it’s not by chance it’s not detailed in his plan — is, first of all, what will happen with this population if they will leave. Will they be able to come back? Because this is not written in the plan