Giora Eiland said Israel needed to continue displacing and withholding aid from Palestinians [Getty]
Retired General Giora Eiland, former head of Israel’s National Security Council and the architect of a military strategy to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the north of the enclave, has said that Israel “failed miserably” in its war on Gaza.
Eiland was one of the authors of the so-called “General’s Plan“, which came to light during the Gaza war and aimed to kill, starve, or expel the remaining Palestinians in the north of the Gaza Strip while establishing a military buffer zone.
The plan involved cutting off humanitarian aid and preventing the return of displaced residents.Â
He told Israeli media: “Looking at the Gaza agreement, Israel opened the Rafah crossing, withdrew from the Netzarim axis, and thousands of Palestinians returned to the north.”
Despite months of relentless bombardment, mass displacement, and a siege that has led to the deaths of more than 61,000 Palestinians – most of them women and children – Eiland claimed that Israel had not gone far enough.
“If you occupy the Strip and the civilians remain, Hamas will remain too. Apart from receiving terrible attacks against the occupying force, you will not gain anything,” he said, implying that full-scale ethnic cleansing was the only way to achieve Israel’s objectives.Â
Weaponising starvation
Eiland also criticised the increase in humanitarian aid reaching Gaza under the ceasefire deal, arguing that Israel should have tightened its siege rather than allowing food, medicine, and other essentials into the war-ravaged territory.
“I am not in favour of starving, but rather not supplying as a means of pressure,” he claimed.
Human rights organisations have accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war. Israel’s total blockade on Gaza has led to malnutrition and starvation.
Reports from the UN and humanitarian organisations warn that entire communities in northern Gaza are facing famine, with children dying from malnutrition and dehydration.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently investigating Israel’s attempts to deprive Palestinians of food and medical supplies in violation of international law.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant face arrest warrants from the ICC for war crimes in Gaza, including the targeting of civilians, the use of starvation as a weapon, and the mass killing of Palestinian civilians.
