Netanyahu swerves US call to publicly reject 'General's Plan' for Gaza ethnic cleansing

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resisted calls from top US officials to publicly disavow the so-called 'General's Plan' for ethnically cleansing Gaza, according to Israeli media reports.

The Israeli leader and top aide Ron Dermer denied that the plan was being implemented in talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, but sidestepped the top US diplomat's urging for a public clarification, according to The Times of Israel, citing an unnamed US official.

The talks came amid Israel's ongoing siege of northern Gaza, where more than 400 people have been killed since Israel encircled more than 400,000 Palestinians still living in the area in early October.

The army has ordered residents and already displaced Palestinians to head south, with hundreds of people having been rounded up and expelled from homes and shelters.

A number of Israeli military leaders have endorsed the General's Plan, which was published by the Israeli Forum of Commanders and Officers in the Reserves in September.

The plan broadly aims to rid northern Gaza of its Palestinian population through violent means, as well as categorising any remaining Palestinians as "Hamas fighters", thus subjecting them to attacks.

In September, Netanyahu told Israeli lawmakers that he was considering adopting the plan.

Israel's crippling siege and assault on northern Gaza comes amid growing calls in Israel for Gaza to be ethnically cleansed and settled.

This week, hundreds of far-right Israeli settlers, including ministers, gathered on the Gaza border to press for the construction of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian enclave.

At the two-day event, held under the slogan "Gaza is Ours, Forever", Jewish extremists met in a closed military zone near the settlement of Be'eri at the Gaza border to call for Jewish settlement of Gaza. Attendees also called for the geno

"We should kill them, every last one of them. And if the government won't do that then we should just kick them out. This is our land. And we deserve it," one attendee was quoted by Sky News as saying.

Israeli forces have killed at least 42,792 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, and wounded over 100,000, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Israel has said it aims to dismantle Hamas and ensure the group does not control Gaza, however has been accused at the World Court of perpetrating genocide against the Palestinian people.