30 October 2023; MEMO: A document compiled by Israeli intelligence was discovered containing a proposal to displace the residents of the Gaza Strip to Sinai after Hamas is toppled in the enclave.
According to the document, published by the Israeli media, Israel will work to evacuate the civilian population first to tent cities and then to the permanent cities that will be established in North Sinai.
The initiative, published on 13 October, includes establishing a several-kilometre-wide “sterile” buffer zone inside Egypt and not allowing the return of residents near the Israeli border. The Ministry of Intelligence confirmed the existence of the document, but an official involved in its compilation said the government was not expected to discuss adopting the proposal.
Though it highlights that there may be international condemnation of the move, it says it would be billed as a means of helping refugees flee war.
Egypt has repeatedly refused to allow Palestinians to be displaced onto its territory, with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi reiterating his position on the issue in a call with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, yesterday.
Earlier this month, former Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Al Jazeera that Palestinians in Gaza should evacuate their residences and relocate to the Sinai Desert in Egypt, where temporary tent cities could be established for them, amid Israel’s bombardment of the besieged enclave.
