Gaza in the eye of the storm: permanent occupation and systematic displacement!!

Nabhan Khreisha

The Israeli government has approved a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip, dubbed "Gideon's Chariots." According to the biblical myth, Gideon led a small group of fighters and defeated the vast army of Midianites (this event is not mentioned in any historical reference). According to the plan, as reported by Israeli media, the Israeli army will move forcefully to defeat Hamas, subjugate it, and destroy its military and governmental capabilities. This will be accompanied by intense pressure to release all hostages. The plan also calls for a large-scale "evacuation" of all Gaza Strip residents from combat zones, from the north and center to Rafah in the south. Israeli forces will remain in any areas they occupy to prevent the return of Palestinian fighters.
Israel's Channel 13 quoted Israeli political sources as saying that if a deal on the hostages is not reached by the end of Trump's visit to the region, Israel will expand the scope of the fighting, beginning to deploy its forces before the operation to provide an opportunity to reach a deal to free the hostages according to the "Witkoff model." During the attack, Israel will seek to retain the territories it "cleanses" and add them to the security zone behind the contact lines, while stressing that it will not evacuate the security zone around Gaza in any permanent or temporary agreement, in order to protect Jewish population centers and prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas. Channel 13 added that the ban on the entry of humanitarian aid will continue and will be lifted later after the start of military operations, followed by the implementation of a "humanitarian" plan by American companies in areas that Israeli forces will work to secure.
The Gideon Wagons operation has raised fears in Israel about the possibility of killing Israeli prisoners held in Gaza during the military operations. This will lead to a wave of massive protests in the Israeli street, with the political echelon, represented by Netanyahu, and the military jointly held responsible. This threatens an unprecedented societal division, similar to what occurred after the Second Lebanon War in 2006. The division in Israel over the feasibility of the large-scale ground military operation before it began has been reflected in campaigns to boycott the call-up of reserve forces, and escalating protests on Hebrew social media platforms. Israeli media outlets such as Ynet and The Times of Israel have monitored the rise of digital campaigns calling on reserve soldiers to boycott the new call-up orders. Perhaps the most prominent campaign was the one launched on the X platform under the hashtag #No_to_the_Occupation, in which activists and families of soldiers participated, believing that this war is pointless and could end in disaster. They also pointed to a loss of confidence in Netanyahu's leadership, as he exploits the war for domestic political purposes.
Some analysts believe that Israel's threat to launch a large-scale ground attack on the Gaza Strip could be a means of pressure in the ongoing negotiations to reach a truce and a prisoner exchange. While the Israeli government is talking about the option of a decisive military solution and the preparations underway in this regard, leaks from the Egyptian negotiating delegation, published by the newspaper "Al-Araby Al-Jadeed," indicate that Israel is using escalation to pressure Hamas to make concessions on the prisoner exchange issue. In the same context, Netanyahu had publicly accused Qatar, in a press conference on April 30, 2025, of what he described as "bias toward Hamas and obstructing the achievement of an agreement." Doha responded by rejecting the accusations and threatening to reevaluate its role in the mediation.
According to statements by Israeli political and military officials, the plan for the planned large-scale Israeli ground operation in Gaza includes forcibly pushing more than 1.5 million Palestinians towards the south of the Strip, specifically the Rafah area, so that the occupation forces can, as they claim, "cleanse" the northern and central areas of Palestinian fighters. This displacement will occur in the absence of any Israeli or international plans to return residents to their original areas, meaning that it will not be temporary. In practice, it will constitute an actual displacement, even if it does not yet cross the border. However, according to Israeli media sources, the Israeli army will work to open "exit corridors" after completing the population cramming into a very small geographical area in the Rafah area. Amid the ongoing bombing and food shortages, the only option for people will be to flee across the border to Sinai, despite declared Egyptian opposition to this.
What Israel is practicing is not displacement, but rather a systematic expulsion, very similar to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland, carried out by Zionist gangs in 1948. Today, Israel is using several tools to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, such as starvation by preventing or restricting the entry of food, water, fuel, and medical supplies, and repeated attacks on aid convoy trucks. It also targets food production and storage facilities such as bakeries, poultry farms, and water stations. The goal is to "manufacture" a famine that would lead to a catastrophic humanitarian situation and turn the lives of Palestinians into an unbearable hell, making "exit" the only option available to them to save their lives.
The occupation of the Gaza Strip and the transfer of its population to the Rafah area raises several issues under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Forced population transfer is a crime under the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The forced displacement of civilians in armed conflict constitutes a war crime and, if carried out systematically and on a large scale, a crime against humanity. Furthermore, Israel is considered an occupying power in the Gaza Strip, despite its withdrawal in 2005. It still controls the airspace, border crossings, territorial waters, and population registry, and repeatedly exercises excessive military force. Consequently, many international legal scholars and human rights organizations believe that Israel remains a de facto occupying power, especially in light of the renewed ground invasion.
Although international law permits the evacuation of civilians only in cases of temporary military necessity, it requires that the evacuation be temporary, with the intent to return them immediately after the danger has passed. The purpose of the evacuation must be to ensure the safety of the population, not for political or demographic reasons. Furthermore, adequate humanitarian conditions must be provided in the evacuation areas. However, facts on the ground indicate that there are no guarantees for the return of the population, and there is a lack of infrastructure or shelter in Rafah. This is compounded by statements by Israeli government ministers, military personnel, and party leaders calling for "cleansing Gaza of its residents."
Amid these complexities on the ground and in the political arena, Israel appears to be oscillating between two options: either a large-scale, risky military operation that could result in heavy losses among its forces and a strategic failure that would spark internal political and social crises; or a fragile political solution based on uncertain deals, amid eroding trust between the parties. Gaza, meanwhile, faces the worst-case humanitarian scenario, with the ongoing blockade, the ban on humanitarian aid, and the worsening crisis in all directions.

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What Israel is doing is not a displacement operation, but rather a systematic expulsion operation, very similar to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland, carried out by Zionist gangs in 1948.