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More than one month into the Gaza conflict that broke out on October 7 following Hamas’ unprecedented attack on settlements in the Gaza envelope, the Israeli army announced that it has achieved a “significant stage” in its ground offensive by splitting the besieged enclave into north and south.
“Today there is north Gaza and south Gaza,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari declared, adding that the Israeli army has “reached the coastline and is holding it.”
The division of the tiny territory could be paving the way for the establishment of a security belt in northern Gaza to protect Israeli settlements in the Gaza envelope, according to Sana Hammoudi, a researcher at the Beirut-based Institute of Palestinian Studies.
“The idea of a security zone was raised right from the beginning of the conflict,” Hammoudi told This is Beirut. “We cannot foretell how much they will succeed in their plan, but one thing is for sure: as long as the international community is granting Israel a green light in Gaza, it will try to take advantage to go ahead with its plan.”
“The northern regions have become almost totally destroyed. They are turned into uninhabitable areas without infrastructure or means of life, and without population, who is forced to move south. This could be the first step toward eventually pushing them into Egypt’s Sinai,” Hammoudi added.
Gaza’s encircling and eventual partitioning helped the Israeli army fight its way into Gaza City, located in the northern part of the strip, which Israel says is the center of Hamas’ power.
Israel’s ground progress into north Gaza forced hundreds of thousands of people to move to the south, many on foot, fleeing Israel’s unrelenting bombardment and fierce clashes in urban areas. The Israeli army said it was facilitating the mass southward movement of civilians in the northern part of the Strip.
The tiny enclave, which has been under Israeli siege since Hamas seized its control in 2007, is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, making it the most densely populated area in the world.
The majority of the population, an estimated 1.3 million, lives in so-called ‘North Gaza,’ where the biggest camps are located, including Jabalya, Al Shatt, Nusseirat, and Deir el Balah, while the population of the southern regions, closest to Egypt, is much lower.
The largest number of hospitals and medical centers, including the main al-Shifa hospital, and the main administrative centers are also concentrated in this part of the enclave, in addition to most schools and educational establishments.
According to Palestinian analyst Anis Mohsen, the Israelis were advised by the Americans to renounce part of their initial plan to displace all of Gaza’s population to neighboring Egypt, a matter that was utterly and publicly rejected by the Egyptians.
“Instead, they settled, as a first step, to empty the north of Gaza, which makes up 37% of the enclave’s territory and harbors more than 54% of the population,” Mohsen said in an interview with This is Beirut.
“They want to push them away from the coastline and confine them in the south, which amounts to 67% of the enclave and has no proper infrastructure. The population density will become unbearable, and the people will inevitably try to evade such living conditions,” he added.
Mohsen contended that the Israelis consider that by controlling the north, particularly Gaza City, the capital of the enclave, “they would be destroying the symbol of Palestinian presence and authority in the territory.”
