Israel Tightens Grip on Northern Gaza While Attention is on Rafah
The head of the Knesset’s National Security Committee, said that Israel “must end the war when Jews settle in the entire northern Gaza Strip.”
Much of the world’s focus has been on the threat of Israeli forces carrying out a major military offensive in Rafah, which is in southern Gaza, and was seen as the last possible safe haven for over 1.1 million, but more attention should be focused on Israel’s effort in northern Gaza, a Palestinian activist wrote.
Ameer Makhoul, the former director of Ittijah, a Palestinian NGO in Israel, wrote in Middle East Eye that “while Israeli politicians' threats of an imminent invasion of Rafah are directing the world's attention to the south, the government has accelerated steps on the ground in northern Gaza to consolidate its occupation and ensure its longevity.”
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Indeed, we reported yesterday that Zvika Fogel, the head of the Knesset’s National Security Committee, said that Israel “must end the war when Jews settle in the entire northern Gaza Strip.”
Fogel, a member of the extremist Otzma Yehudit, repeated the previous call from top Israelis for a “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, the Middle East Memo reported. “Whoever wants to voluntarily migrate will receive a grant from me.”
Earlier this month, eager to stake claim to the territory, a group of Israeli settlers “built a symbolic house on the border with Gaza, as part of a campaign calling for new settlements on Palestinian land and the ethnic cleansing of the territory,” Al Jazeera posted on X.