Netanyahu planning to annex, settle north Gaza as part of next phase of war: Israeli media

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government are preparing for the next phase of the war on Gaza, which could see annexation and the construction of settlements in the enclave’s north, Haaretz has revealed.

Israeli journalist Aluf Benn writes in the publication that Tel Aviv will "strive to complete its takeover" of the northern Gaza Strip, from the previous border to the Netzarim corridor.

The land corridor has been used by Israel to split the besieged coastal territory in half and create essentially a buffer zone.

"We can predict that this area [northern Gaza] will then gradually be made available for Jewish settlement and annexation to Israel, according to the degree of international outcry that such steps might incur," writes Benn in his analysis.

He draws a grim picture for Palestinian residents in northern Gaza who remain if Netanyahu’s government’s plan does pan out, saying they will be forcefully displaced under threat of starvation and under cover of "protecting their lives."

An expansion of Israeli territory by annexing parts of Gaza would be a dream for Netanyahu, something "his supporters will see as a lifetime achievement," says Benn.

He predicts Hamas will continue to control the southern portion of the enclave, between the Netzarim corridor in the central Gaza Strip and the Philadelphi Corridor in the south, with most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population crammed in together.

There were 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip before Israeli forces pulled out of the area in 2005.

Much of the Gaza Strip has been laid to ruin in Israel’s more than 11-month-long military offensive. Netanyahu and many of his extremist cabinet members had said they want Israel to remain in control of Gaza after the war ends, vowing to dismantle Hamas and refuse any Palestinian authority in the territory.

Around 41,000 people have been killed in airstrikes and the ground invasion, most of them women and children, with some 10,000 missing, presumed dead.

Gaza’s Palestinians have been forced to flee their homes several times since the war started on 7 October, moving back and forth between the north and south.

Mediation efforts to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and discuss a day after plan are yet to yield results.