IDF distances itself from ‘no return’ remarks about north Gaza evacuees

The Israeli army has distanced itself from comments made by a brigadier general that ground forces are getting closer to “the complete evacuation” of the northern Gaza Strip and residents will not be allowed to return home.

In a media briefing on Tuesday night, the Israel Defense Forces’ Brig Gen Itzik Cohen told Israeli reporters that there would be “no return” to their homes for any residents of the northern Gaza Strip. .

It was not clear whether Cohen was referring to the whole of northern Gaza, from the Gaza river upwards, or the area north of Gaza City.

He added that his IDF division was bringing humanitarian aid into the south of the northern territory but not the north, where he said few people were now left.

International humanitarian law experts have said that such actions would amount to the war crimes of forcible transfer and the use of food as a weapon.

The IDF did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on Cohen’s remarks. But on Thursday, a spokesperson said the comments had been taken out of context during a discussion about Jabaliya, and did not “reflect the IDF’s objectives and values”.

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The spokesperson said the briefing on Tuesday had been on background, and the brigadier general should not have been quoted in Hebrew media reports that emerged.

A statement said that the IDF was permitting aid to enter northern Gaza, including Jabaliya. Residents say no aid has entered Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya or Beit Hanoun since a new offensive and tightened siege began on 5 October.

Israel has repeatedly denied trying to force the remaining population of northern Gaza to flee to the relative safety of the south during the offensive, now in its second month. Israel says the push is necessary to combat regrouped Hamas cells.

Rights groups and aid agencies have alleged that despite the denials, Israel appears to be carrying out a version of the so-called “generals’ plan”, which proposes giving civilians a deadline to leave and then treating anyone who remains as a combatant.

It is unclear how many people remain in northern Gaza; last month, the UN estimated there were about 400,000 civilians unable or unwilling to follow Israeli evacuation orders. Social media footage this week showed waves of displaced people carrying children and rucksacks and walking south through flattened areas of Gaza City.

Palestinian medics said on Thursday that Israeli attacks had killed 10 people in northern Gaza and seven in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, in the past 24 hours. The Israeli military said it had killed about 50 militants in the past 24 hours.

Israel cut the Palestinian territory in two earlier this year by creating what it calls the Netzarim corridor, separating what was once the densely populated Gaza City from the rest of the strip.

Permanently reoccupying Gaza is not official Israeli policy, but senior Israeli defence officials recently told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the government was aiming to annex large parts of the strip.

• This article was amended on 19 November 2024 to add that it was unclear whether Brig Gen Itzik Cohen had been referring in the briefing to “no return” for the whole of northern Gaza, or the area north of Gaza City. An earlier version said Cohen spoke of aid being allowed only into “the south of the territory”; it has been clarified that he was referring to the southern part of the north.