“Evacuate the civilian population to Sinai,” and then “create a sterile zone of several kilometers … within Egypt, and [prevent] the return of the population to activities/residences near the border of Israel.” This is the heart of a policy paper authored by Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence and reported in full in Hebrew in the Israeli news outlet Sikha Mekomit (Local Call) and in English by its partner site +972 Magazine, which verified the document’s authenticity via a source in the Intelligence Ministry.
The document does not necessarily in itself represent a policy decision, as the Ministry of Intelligence writes policy proposals, but cannot mandate action.
The ten-page document, dated Oct. 13, 2023, explicitly recommends transferring Palestinians from Gaza, in a three-stage process: evacuating northern Gaza residents to southern Gaza and conducting air strikes in the north, a ground incursion leading to the occupation of the entire Gaza Strip and the expulsion of the residents, and the “cleansing of the underground bunkers of Hamas fighters.”
The proposal calls for actions to “motivate” the Palestinians to accept the plan: “The messages should revolve around the loss of land, making it clear that there is no hope of returning to the territories that Israel will soon occupy…. The image needs to be ‘Allah made sure you lose this land because of Hamas’s leadership—there is no choice but to move to another place with the assistance of your Muslim brothers.’”
The document urges a public relations campaign to build support for the plan throughout the Western world “in a way that does not … vilify Israel.” How? By presenting the forced relocation as a humanitarian boon: Relocation will lead to “fewer casualties among the civilian population compared to the expected casualties if the population remains.”
