Intelligence Ministry of Israel proposes displacing 2.3 million Gazans to Sinai in Egypt

11/03/2023 / By Laura Harris

The Intelligence Ministry of Israel has drafted a wartime proposal to transfer the 2.3 million people in Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

According to the proposal, the Intelligence Ministry has offered three alternatives “to effect a significant change in the civilian reality in the Gaza Strip in light of the Hamas crimes that led to the Sword of Iron War.”

The proposal suggests moving the entire population of Gaza to the tent cities of northern Sinai, building permanent cities, and an undefined humanitarian corridor. A security zone would be established inside Israel to prevent displaced Palestinians from returning. The document also proposes creating a “sterile zone” several kilometers within Egypt to prevent civilians from returning to areas near the border with Israel.

Moreover, the document explicitly recommends dividing the plan into three stages. The first stage suggests evacuating the Gaza population southward while conducting airstrikes in the north; the second stage involves a ground incursion into Gaza; and the last stage is the permanent relocation of Palestinian civilians to Egyptian territory. (Related: Gaza doctors send “SOS to whole world” as U.S. suggests evacuation corridor to Egypt.)

“It is important to leave the travel routes to the south open to enable the evacuation of the civilian population toward Rafah,” the document states.

However, the proposal does not elaborate on the future of Gaza once its population is relocated, but it believes these solutions could be the best for the security of Israel.

Egyptians and Palestinians oppose Israel’s proposal

The proposal has ignited inflamed tensions in Cairo and outrage from Palestinians, as it raises serious humanitarian and legal concerns.

For Egyptians, the proposal has deepened their longstanding concerns that Israel aims to make Gaza a problem for Egypt.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi has said that a mass influx of refugees from Gaza would eliminate the Palestinian nationalist cause and increase the risk of militant activity in Sinai. So, El-Sissi has proposed that Israel should temporarily house Palestinians in the Negev Desert until military operations cease.

The proposal acknowledges that it might face challenges in terms of international legitimacy, but it argues that evacuating the population would lead to fewer civilian casualties compared to allowing them to remain in Gaza.

This controversial proposal has the potential to strain the crucial partnership between Israel and Egypt. Yoel Guzansky, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, emphasized the significance of this partnership and warned that the document could cause a “strategic rift.”

Moreover, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesperson for President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine, vehemently condemned the proposal. Rudeineh warned that mass displacement would be equivalent to declaring a new war. The idea of mass displacement revives painful memories of the uprooting of hundreds of thousands of people during the tumultuous period surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948.

“We are against transfer to any place, in any form, and we consider it a red line that we will not allow to be crossed. What happened in 1948 will not be allowed to happen again,” Rudeineh said.

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