Israeli aid operations ‘aimed at forcing Palestinians to go south’

Northern residents face dilemma as medics report deadly attacks near US-backed food distribution centres

Israel has been accused of engineering a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza through its aid operations, amid reports that supplies are being kept in the south of the enclave to displace people from the north.

Allegations from Palestinian officials and civilians came after authorities said dozens of people were killed in recent days by Israeli gunfire near aid distribution points.

The aid centres are being run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a group backed by the US and Israel that began operations after Israel relaxed a blockade on the enclave. Three Palestinians were killed early yesterday near a food bank near Rafah, medical sources told The National.

UN agencies and other aid organisations have refused to work with the GHF, saying its work is in breach of international humanitarian principles. Gazans say aid from the GHF is being distributed almost exclusively in the south, while those in the north are left to starve.

Throughout the war, Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have called for Gazans to be removed from the enclave into neighbouring countries, including Egypt, which borders Rafah.

The concentration of aid in the south has raised concerns that Israel plans to force Palestinians across the border into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

“This is not a logistical failure, it is a deliberate strategy,” Ismail Al Thawabta, director of Gaza’s media office, told The National. “The occupation is starving people in northern Gaza, forcing them to flee south where hunger is also spreading and chaos is intensifying. This is part of a calculated plan to forcibly displace the population.”

International aid groups have repeatedly called for access to all of Gaza, Mr Al Thawabta said, but they have been ignored.

What little aid enters Gaza is seized by desperate civilians or armed groups that, according to Mr Al Thawabta, are empowered by Israeli troops.

Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid and says the GHF operations are intended to circumvent the militant group.

Many in northern Gaza must now decide whether to leave their homes and move south, or stay and risk famine.

“The occupation is using hunger as a weapon. It’s trying to kill us or force us to flee,” said Mohammed Abu Simaan, 32, from the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of northern Gaza. “They’ve made their intentions clear, this is about displacement.

“But I won’t move. My family won’t move. Gaza is our home, and no matter how long it takes, food will reach us eventually.”

Israel has faced growing criticism over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with the UN having warned that the enclave’s entire population is at risk of famine.

Younis Abu Shaer, 40, from Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, told The National he had initially resisted moving south when the Israeli army ordered mass displacement three weeks ago. However, the pressure became unbearable.

“After two weeks, we had no flour, no vegetables, no cash, nothing,” he said. “I had no choice. I packed our things and went south just to find food.

“I didn’t want to go south, but hunger is merciless. It leaves you no choice.”

A delegation led by the deputy head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Azzam Al Ahmad, is discussing plans to disarm Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps in the coming weeks.

The talks focus on operational steps to implement a multiphase plan, a Palestinian Authority source told The National yesterday.

“We aim to establish and agree on the operational steps for implementing the camp disarmament plan in line with the agreement between Presidents [Joseph] Aoun and [Mahmoud] Abbas,” the source said. “This visit is meant to organise those practical steps from both the Lebanese and Palestinian sides.”

The National previously reported that Hamas in Lebanon has criticised the Palestinian Authority’s decision to disarm the camps in co-ordination with Lebanese authorities, describing it as a unilateral move made without its input.

“We call on the Lebanese government to open a responsible dialogue with the Joint Palestinian Action Committee, which includes all Palestinian factions and forces, to discuss the Palestinian situation in all its aspects,” Hamas’s representative in Lebanon, Ali Baraka, told The National last month.

“Limiting the discussion to the security framework alone could open the door to the trap of resettlement or displacement, which is what [Israel] seeks.”

Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha also criticised the initiative, describing the decision as “representing only the Palestinian Authority”.

According to the source, the disarmament plan will begin in the three Beirut-area camps of Shatila, Burj Al Barajneh and Mar Elias, before expanding into the Bekaa Valley and northern Lebanon.

The final phase would see the camps in the south disarmed, ending with Ain Al Hilweh – the largest and most heavily armed of the 12 camps and the most challenging.

The issue of disarming Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, which operate outside Lebanese state control, has long been contentious.

Armed groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – aligned with Hezbollah and committed to armed resistance against Israel – have previously used Lebanon as a launchpad for attacks across the border.

The Palestinian Authority is internationally recognised as the governing body of parts of the Palestinian territories, but its legitimacy is contested by many Palestinians.

In Lebanon, Palestinian refugee camps are not governed by the PA but by inter-factional committees, some of which do not pledge loyalty to the PA.

While some Palestinians view weapons as essential for self-defence, referring to the 1975–1990 Lebanese Civil War, others say arms have become tools of internal strife and criminal activity.

Under a longstanding arrangement, the Lebanese army does not enter the Palestinian camps, leaving security to be handled by the factions themselves.

That agreement, however, may be coming to an end.

Lebanese security sources and Fatah officials previously told The National that the plan to disarm the camps will involve lifting the army’s non-intervention policy.

“The discussions during the visit are focused on camp security and preventing the camps from becoming havens for fugitives,” the Palestinian source said.

“The Palestinian Authority does not want Palestinians to form a ‘state within a state,’ and we are ready to co-operate with any proposal put forward by the Lebanese authorities.”

Serhan Serhan, deputy secretary of Fatah in Lebanon, supported that position.

“We believe and trust that the Lebanese army will stabilise Lebanon, and we are part of Lebanon,” he said.

“We are ready to co-operate.”