Cohen reportedly denied knowledge of the so-called General’s Plan, but stated instead that the military is “acting on the instructions of the (Israeli military’s)Southern Command and chief of staff.”
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an editorial on Sunday accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military of orchestrating an “ethnic cleansing operation” in Gaza’s northern region.
The editorial cited observations from Yaniv Kubovich, the paper’s military correspondent, who accompanied Israeli forces in the area.
“The area looks like it was hit by a natural disaster,” Kubovich was quoted as saying. The editorial added that “what Kubovich saw, however, was not a natural disaster but rather a premeditated act of human destruction.”
In an interview, Brigadier General Itzik Cohen, reportedly identified by the British newspaper The Guardian as the commander of the 162nd Division, commented, “My task is to create a cleansed space… We are moving the population for its protection, in order to create freedom of action for our forces.”
Scores Killed, Including Children – Extermination in North Gaza Continues
“There is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes,” Cohen was quoted as saying.
According to the report, “the officer was asked if the army is carrying out the ‘Generals’ Plan’ conceived by Maj. Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland and a few of his fellow retired commanders to expel the Palestinians from the northern Gaza Strip”.
Cohen reportedly denied knowledge of any such directive, but stated instead that the military is “acting on the instructions of the (Israeli military’s)Southern Command and chief of staff.”
The editorial noted that although “Eiland may have sold these ideas to the public”, the ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza “is carried out by the IDF under the direction of its commanders (…) who are subordinate to the directives of the political leadership: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”.
Therefore, according to the editorial, “instead of talking about the Generals’ Plan, we should be talking about ‘Netanyahu’s Orders’.”
“He is the leader and he is responsible for the war crimes committed by the IDF in the northern Strip: the expulsion of the Palestinians, the destruction of their homes and the preparations on the ground for a prolonged occupation and Jewish settlement,” the editorial concluded.
‘Famine is Imminent’ in North Gaza – Famine Review Committee Calls for Immediate Action
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,552 Palestinians have been killed, and 102,765 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
