Israel, allies move on from Sinai plan for Gaza displaced as Egypt holds its ground, diplomats say

Israel and its allies are pushing new plans for where Palestinians forcibly displaced by Israel's brutal air and ground campaign might be moved to after Egypt repeatedly rejected plans to relocate them to its Sinai peninsula, Egyptian and other diplomatic sources in Cairo have reportedly said.

Plans were being put forward to offer people displaced from Gaza residence permits and employment opportunities in the US and willing European and Arab countries, an Egyptian diplomatic source told The New Arab's sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on condition of anonymity.

Priority would be given to residents from the northern areas of the Gaza Strip, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported the source as saying. 

Hundreds of thousands of people living in northern Gaza have been pushed out of their homes towards the south of the enclave by intensive Israeli bombing and now a ground invasion. More than 11,000 people have been killed in Israel's attack on Gaza since 7 October, and much of the territory's infrastructure has been destroyed.

Palestinians and even Israeli politicians have called the ongoing mass displacement  a 'Nakba' - an Arabic word meaning 'catastrophe', used to describe the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes for the creation of the Israeli state in 1948.

Israel had proposed that Gaza's displaced be relocated to Egypt's North Sinai governorate, where permanent cities would be built for them.

Egyptian officials have repeatedly rejected the idea.

Cairo has said that anything more than a temporary relocation of Gazans to Egypt could lead to significant security disturbances in the country that would affect Israel itself.

Human rights experts say the forcible, permanent displacement of Palestinians constitutes a war crime.