Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is weighing up a plan that will involve shelling Palestinians from North Gaza and surrounding them to compel the group Hamas to release hostages. The plan developed by retired military commanders and supported by some Israeli lawmakers would suggest that after civilians are removed from the area, northern Gaza becomes a “closed military zone.”

Likud MP Avichail Baoaron came forward to substantiate that the government is actually considering the mentioned plan. Thus, Boaron is isomorphic: the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) would relocate people from northern Gaza, leaving the area free of civilians, Boaron claims. “Once civilians are out of the way, the IDF can attack terrorists, and the latter stands a chance of not being taken out together with civilians,” Boaron said to *The Guardian*. 

The plan said to be backed by Netanyahu, made “sense”, according to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, although an official in the country pointed out it has not been endorsed yet. 

As for the contemporary conflict, the United Nations believes that 300-500 thousand Palestinians, the large majority of whom are displaced, remain in northern Gaza, which remains heavily impacted.

The plan’s key steps were outlined by Giora Eiland, a retired IDF major general and former head of Israel’s national security council, in a video posted earlier. Eiland said that all the remaining civilians should be evacuated from the northern Gaza Strip and that the area should be declared a military zone. The goal is to cordon off the estimated 5,000 Hamas militants in the area, allowing them to surrender or starve to death. It appears that ‘We are not suggesting they leave. That is why, in the proposal, we are ordering them to leave, Eiland said.

The plan, however, left the question of what will happen to civilians who cannot or will not escape unanswered. The northern area of the Gaza Strip is still largely inaccessible to humanitarian agencies and organizations. The majority of the population of the Gaza Strip has already been, if not entirely, forced into a humanitarian envelope, a humanitarian zone as such, that does not have the necessary, appropriate infrastructure to meet humanitarian needs, let alone the essential services required for a human population of over one million people.

Although the proposal hopes to eliminate Hamas and possibly free hostages, there is no agreed method on how this proposal will solve these crucial humanitarian problems. About the signatures collected in support of the plan, Boaron stated, “I hope this plan will liberate the hostages; however, it will definitely aid in dismantling Hamas.”

Eyal Zisser, an expert on Arab-Israeli relations at Tel Aviv University, said that although Netanyahu has not articulated a clear concept regarding the future of Gaza after a war. Zisser also noted that occasionally limited military operations in Gaza without all-out occupation could enable Hamas to recover power as a vacuum can be taken by this militant group.

It is still unpredictable as to how or when the situation in Gaza will be resolved. As the conflict continues, Israel’s military keeps considering strategies, including this plan, which has leaned significant controversy.