By taking control of extensive areas within the Gaza Strip, Israel is altering the landscape of Palestinian territory, which is among the most densely populated regions globally, rendering it increasingly “uninhabitable.”
On Wednesday, Defence Minister Israel Katz announced that the military has designated large portions, amounting to 30 percent of Gaza, as buffer zones, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Agnes Levallois, a lecturer at the Foundation for Strategic Research, noted that maintaining these cleared and vacant buffer zones could serve a strategic purpose.
“Israel’s approach in the Gaza Strip aims to render the area uninhabitable,” she stated, with some analysts suggesting that Israel’s control may extend beyond the reported 30 percent.
An AFP analysis, based on military maps, indicated that the total area under Israeli control exceeds 185 square kilometers (approximately 70 square miles), accounting for around 50 percent of the territory.
On the ground, the Israeli military has established a broad security zone along Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt, primarily to mitigate the risk of cross-border smuggling with Egypt.
Additionally, troops have created three militarized corridors—Philadelphi, Morag, and Netzarim—that traverse the width of Gaza, effectively segmenting the territory into distinct sections.
Field of Desolation
With a staggering 2.4 million residents crammed into just 365 square kilometers, Gaza was already one of the most densely populated regions globally before the conflict erupted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel.
“The Israeli military is increasingly issuing what they term ‘evacuation orders,’ which are essentially orders for forced displacement,” stated Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“This has resulted in the coerced relocation of Palestinians within Gaza to increasingly restricted areas, where they have limited or no access to essential services.”
The remaining landscape is littered with debris, as the UN reports that 80 percent of civilian infrastructure has been either completely or partially destroyed.
Almost all residents of Gaza have experienced displacement at least once, with many now residing in schools repurposed as shelters, under tents, or in other temporary accommodations.
“We are uncertain about the government’s strategy; perhaps we will end up controlling all of Gaza, which would necessitate establishing either a civil administration or a military regime,” remarked Michael Milshtein, a Palestinian affairs expert at Tel Aviv University, in an interview with AFP.
“I’m not convinced that the Israeli public fully understands the implications of this scenario.”
Milshtein noted that capturing certain regions of Gaza was “relatively straightforward” for the military.
Many of the areas seized are “vacant territories, meaning (the army) does not have direct control over any Palestinians,” he explained, estimating that Israel currently governs “approximately half” of Gaza.
Levallois, an expert on the Middle East, posits that Israel may refrain from further territorial expansion, effectively leaving the remaining areas largely neglected and permitting only minimal humanitarian assistance.
“This situation could result in a scenario akin to Somalia, characterized by chaos and the absence of any governing authority emerging from the devastation.”
In the buffer zone currently under its control, the Israeli army has reportedly methodically demolished civilian structures, as indicated by testimonies from anonymous soldiers gathered by the anti-occupation organization Breaking the Silence and various international media outlets.
“Riviera” of the Middle East
Describing Gaza as the “Riviera” of the Middle East, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich proposed in November the idea of facilitating “voluntary emigration” for approximately half of Gaza’s residents.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at the helm of one of the most right-leaning administrations in Israeli history, has received backing for this notion from US President Donald Trump.
In February, Trump suggested transforming Gaza into a “Middle East Riviera” and relocating its inhabitants to Jordan and Egypt.
Certain Israeli advocates for the re-establishment of settlements in the Gaza Strip, which were dismantled in 2005, assert that they have specific plans and frequently visit the Gaza border.
However, Netanyahu has not explicitly indicated any support for these initiatives.
In the absence of a clear post-war strategy, the future of Gaza remains ambiguous.
“There is no coherent strategy,” Milshtein stated.
“The only approach appears to be to promote or adopt Trump’s vision, which suggests encouraging Palestinians to leave Gaza. This is absurd.
“Most people in Israel recognize it as a fantasy or an illusion,” he added.
“Even Trump seems to have lost interest in the idea.”
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