Israel military floats ‘humanitarian bubble’ plan for Hamas-free northern Gaza amid derision

The Israeli military is reportedly planning to create a series of Hamas-free “bubbles” in some areas of northern Gaza, where Palestinians will be allowed to handle aid distribution and other aspects of civil administration, while Israel retains military control.

The scheme will be rolled out in the areas of Atatra, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia, the Financial Times reported, citing six people “with knowledge of the plan”.

Israel has recently launched brutal attacks in the north of Gaza, killing 87 people in Beit Lahia on Saturday, and is suspected of implementing another plan known as the “Generals’ Plan” to starve, kill or expel the remaining inhabitants.

The new scheme would see the Israeli military supplying aid to vetted Palestinians via the Erez crossing on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, as a prelude to allowing them civil administration of the area, under Israeli military occupation, according to the Financial Times.

It would be expanded to the south of the Gaza Strip if successful, and is considered a prelude to a future handover of the devastated territory to an Arab-led international force, an idea previously mooted by Israel.

However, the plan has been dismissed as a “fantasy” by sources familiar with it. A senior Israeli official claimed that it had already been tried in parts of the central Gaza Strip, but Palestinians who tried to collaborate with Israeli forces were “beaten up or killed by Hamas”.

Additionally, Arab states have refused to be associated, at least publicly, with any plan to police the Gaza Strip after Israel’s war ends, saying there must be progress towards the establishment of a Palestinian state first.

Palestinian groups have rejected any Israeli plan for control and administration of the Gaza Strip, with Hamas saying on Tuesday that it will act against anyone collaborating with Israel to “tamper with the destiny and future of our people”.

The leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also warned against the “humanitarian bubble” plan, linking it to the Israeli plan to empty northern Gaza of its residents and saying that any “foreign force” cooperating with Israel would be targeted.