What is Israel's 'Generals' Plan' that seeks to isolate Gaza's north? 

Israel is reportedly preparing conditions in the northern Gaza Strip to implement the so-called "Generals' Plan" that was presented to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "magical recipe" to achieve "absolute victory" in his genocidal war against Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave. 

Israeli media outlets reported that Netanyahu told lawmakers that he is weighing the so-called "Generals' Plan", promoted by a group of senior Israeli Defends Forces reservists, to lay siege to northern Gaza.

According to The Times of Israel, Netanyahu told members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee during a closed session that the plan is one of several being examined and brought to the cabinet for further discussion in the coming days. 

What is the "Generals' Plan"?

Addressing the committee last week, Major General Giora Eiland claimed that the plan, which is not backed by the United States, would "change the reality" on the ground in Gaza.

"We have to tell the residents of north Gaza that they have one week to evacuate the territory, which then becomes a military zone; [a zone] in which every figure is a target and, most importantly, no supplies enter this territory. A siege is not only an effective military tactic; it is also compliant with international law. What matters to Sinwar is land and dignity, and with this manoeuvre, you take away both land and dignity," Eiland explained at the time.

When will this plan be implemented?

"Although Israeli leaders have not announced a date for implementing the "Generals' Plan", the daily massacres, with their terrifying scenes, tell us that it has been put into bloody practice with nearly half a million citizens suffering the pains of hunger, killing and terror," according to Ibrahim Melhem, a Palestinian political expert. 

"The successive horrific massacres carried out by the Israeli army against the residents of the northern regions, which have left dozens of martyrs and hundreds of wounded, bear the fingerprints of the 'Generals' Plan'," Melhem opined. 

"Netanyahu's war is on orphaned children and bereaved women, on all people and their property, on service centres such as bakeries, hospitals, water and electricity stations, and other life enablers that ensure their survival," he added. 

For his part, writer and political analyst Hussam Al-Dajani believes that the "Generals' Plan" is not only based on terrorising civilians and displacing them from their land or breaking the armed resistance and killing Palestinian fighters, but it mainly aims to strike at the "popular incubator of the resistance" by committing genocide against entire families, trying to delete them from the civil registry.

"It will not be difficult for Netanyahu to achieve the "Generals' Plan" in light of Arab silence and the complete American support for Israel, which will contribute to creating a new Middle East consistent with colonial aspirations," Al-Dajani told TNA. 

What is the human impact of this plan?

Since the Israeli genocidal war erupted eleven months ago, the areas of the northern Gaza Strip [which include Gaza City, Jabalia, and the towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip] have been witnessing indiscriminate attacks by the Israeli army, killing Palestinians via air, land and sea attacks or by a policy of hunger and the deterioration of daily living conditions.

"The Israeli army only kills unarmed innocent civilians, most of whom are children [...] All the dead are torn to pieces or disfigured, and we do not know why the army insists on targeting civilians," remarked Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the Ministry of Civil Defence in Gaza.

"The Israeli army follows a systematic policy against the defenceless, powerless displaced civilians. The majority of the residents of the north were forced to shelter in schools to escape death, but the Israeli warplanes pursued them and killed them in cold blood," Basal added. 

There are still about 400,000 Palestinians in Gaza City and the northern governorates, and all live in inhumane conditions due to the Israel's war.

"Neither my children nor I have eaten any kind of meat since the beginning of the war [...] We have not eaten fruits and vegetables for more than five months. If we do not die from the bombing, we will surely die of hunger," Nada Al-Arabid, from the town of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, told TNA.

The 33-year-old mother has been living in a tent made of worn-out cloth in the courtyard of Al-Zeitoun School in Gaza City for more than five months after the Israeli army destroyed her house and killed her husband. 

"Yesterday, the Israeli army bombed the school and killed about seven people in front of our eyes. We no longer have any hope that we will survive this war," she said.

Mohammed Atallah, a resident of Gaza City, feels the same. He currently lives in the remaining part of his home that was hit by a missile from an Israeli aircraft, which killed 25 members of his family last November.

"The Israeli army's continued to use all forms of intimidation against us. It is not because it is fighting Hamas and the resistance factions, but because it is clear that it wants to implement a policy of displacement against all residents of the northern areas of the strip to occupy our land and expel us all," Mohammed said. 

"No matter what the Israeli army does against us, we will not leave our land [...] If it weren't for Arab silence and the West's bias towards Israel, Netanyahu would not have been able to implement his settlement-occupation plans against us," he said. 

The Israeli army has been waging a large-scale war on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, following a surprise military attack by the Hamas-led armed Palestinian factions on Israeli military bases and civilian settlements near and around the Gaza envelope that killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 others, according to Israeli authorities.

Ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 41,455 Palestinians and injured at least 95,878, according to the latest statistics issued by the Ministry of Health in Gaza.