August 17, 2025 | 06:00 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Israel has announced preparations to forcibly relocate Palestinian residents to the southern part of Gaza City starting Sunday, August 17, 2025.
The plan follows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration of a new military operation to take control of Gaza City, the largest urban center in the region.
Netanyahu said the military has been authorized to dismantle the last two Hamas strongholds: Gaza City in the north and al-Mawasi in the south.
According to Al Jazeera, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee stated on Saturday, August 16, that the displaced residents will be provided with tents and supplies. He said the aid will be delivered through the Karem Abu Salem or Kerem Shalom crossing by the United Nations and international aid groups.
The UN has not commented on the plan or its role in it, but previously warned that the evacuation could worsen the already dire conditions faced by thousands of families in Gaza City.
The Islamic Jihad group, an ally of Hamas, condemned Israel’s move, calling it part of a brutal campaign to seize Gaza City and a blatant violation of international law.
“Forcing people to flee amidst starvation, massacres, and displacement is an ongoing crime against humanity. Criminal behaviour in Gaza is inseparable from the daily crimes committed by the occupation in the occupied West Bank,” the group said.
The announcement came a day after Israeli media, including public broadcaster KAN, reported that the army was preparing to accelerate its assault on Gaza City.
Haaretz and Yedioth Ahronoth noted that the military had been ordered to prepare for a full-scale ground attack, although it was expected to take place after September.
Ismail Thawabteh, director of Gaza’s government media office, told Anadolu that Israel’s promise of tents for civilians was “a blatant attempt to whitewash the crime of mass forced displacement it has been committing since the start of the genocide in Gaza.”
He warned that the designated area for tents could become “a new blood trap,” similar to what happened in al-Mawasi, Rafah, and Khan Younis, where more than 1.5 million people were driven over the past months.
Thawabteh added that the forced displacement of civilians under occupation constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity under the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
On Wednesday, Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir approved what he called the “central idea” of Israel’s reoccupation plan, which includes an attack on the Zeitoun district in southern Gaza City where the army’s 99th Division has been deployed.
The Israeli Security Cabinet had already endorsed Netanyahu’s plan to fully reoccupy Gaza, sparking international condemnation and domestic protests that warned it amounted to a “death sentence” for Israeli hostages.
The operation is set to begin with the takeover of Gaza City and the evacuation of nearly one million residents to the south, followed by a siege and raids on several neighborhoods. A second phase will target refugee camps in central Gaza, many of which have already been reduced to rubble.
Israeli attacks around Gaza City have intensified in recent days. Residents in Zeitoun and Shujayea reported tank fire and airstrikes. The Palestinian news agency Wafa said an Israeli drone strike in Asqaula, Zeitoun, killed two people and injured several others.
Another strike hit a house near the al-Alami Mosque on al-Zarqa Street, killing one person and wounding three.
Arab News reported that the al-Mawasi area, designated by Israel as a humanitarian zone since the start of the war, was also targeted. On Saturday, an airstrike killed Motasem al-Batta, his wife, and their infant daughter inside a tent.
Israel now controls an estimated 75 percent of Gaza’s territory. Refusing international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli military has waged a devastating war on Gaza since October 2023 that has killed 61,900 Palestinians.
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