'Israel' Moves Towards Complete Occupation of Gaza

Thousands of Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip have once again been displaced from homes they had barely finished restoring, after 50 days of exhausting work day and night, which had culminated in repairing just one room in a destroyed house, or setting up a tent where their home once stood after a long displacement. All these efforts have now been undermined by new “Israeli” evacuation orders. Hajj Muhammad al-Masri, speaking to Al-Akhbar while on his way out of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza toward Gaza City, says, “We had not even finished cleaning the house yet. Just today we furnished the house, covered the windows with plastic sheeting, and connected the water, when they ordered our area to evacuate. We left with only the clothes we were wearing … What is happening to us is unjust. We have no strength left. Death would be more merciful than this life.”

This comes at a time when the occupation army has expanded its ground operation in both the northern and the southern Gaza Strip. “Israeli” tanks advanced from the northern coast of Beit Lahia to the Al-Atatra neighborhood in the northwest of the city. Military vehicles also penetrated the Shaboura camp in Rafah city in southern Gaza, while simultaneously completing control over the “Netzarim axis” from Salah al-Din Street in the east of the Strip to Al-Rashid Street in the west, over the past two days. Meanwhile, the occupation army has warned residents of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia cities, as well as the towns of Khuza’a, Al-Qarara, and Bani Suhaila east of Khan Younis to evacuate, after Israeli warplanes intensified their targeting of residential blocks. On March 21, they bombed a residential block in the center of Jabalia camp, and a number of houses in Beit Lahia and the neighborhoods of Al-Salatin, Al-Tuffah, and Al-Shujaiya east of Gaza City.

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On the political front, a Palestinian leadership source confirmed receiving an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire and the release of more prisoners. The source, speaking to Al-Akhbar, indicated that there is preliminary US approval for the proposal, which stipulates setting a timeline for releasing all “Israeli” prisoners and complete withdrawal of the occupation from the Strip, along with a ceasefire. Mediators are awaiting the response of the “Israeli” enemy and Hamas to the Egyptian proposal.

The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz quoted an “Israeli” security source as claiming that “the door is still open to conclude an exchange deal under which some hostages would be released, but the escalation is heading towards a worsening if no agreement is reached due to government pressure in favor of expanding the fighting area.”

The Haaretz article added, “Israel appears to be currently concealing the true intentions of the government and the army. While waiting for negotiations whose outcome is doubtful, the groundwork is being laid for a large-scale operation to occupy the entire Gaza Strip.”

The occupation’s Army Minister Yisrael Katz has directed the expansion of the ground operation and the occupation of more territory in Gaza, emphasizing the need to exert more pressure on Hamas to force the movement to make concessions regarding the release of prisoners.

(Al-Akhbar) by Yousef Fares

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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