Concerns about Israeli plans for Gaza and Palestinian displacement

[JadeHare]

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/28/middleeast/israel-netanyahu-military-70-percent-gaza-intl

Doesn’t look like there will be much land left for the Palestinians.

And in other news, from the Guardian:

“Israel’s defence minister has said he is committed to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza through large-scale migration of Palestinians as part of Israel’s long-term plans for the territory.
Israel Katz said the government would implement a plan for large numbers of Palestinians to leave Gaza “at the right time and in the right manner”, in a statement on Wednesday marking the targeted killing of Mohammed Odeh, Hamas’s most recent military commander.
Pushing for mass departures violates Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza, which Israel signed last year. The second point of the plan states: “Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough.”
Israel’s government has promoted the prospect of Gaza without Palestinians since Trump suggested early last year that hundreds of thousands of people should leave to “clean out” the strip for reconstruction.
Last year Israel set up a bureau for “voluntary emigration” and eased travel restrictions for Palestinians who wanted to make a one-way journey out of the strip.
The forced transfer of civilian populations is a war crime and a crime against humanity. Israeli officials, including Katz, use the term “voluntary migration” to describe their ”

Excerpt From
“Israel’s defence minister says large-scale Palestinian migration from Gaza will go ahead”
Emma Graham-Harrison
The Guardian
https://apple.news/AnnlpJqlOTdW5cUbA9NEe1Q
This material may be protected by copyright.

I think there are IDF soldiers who are going to be traumatised for the rest of their lives for what they have had to do. I never said that all Israelis want to kill all Palestinians either. I have seen videos of IDF soldiers being inhumane but I have also seen videos of them being so kind to Palestinian children. I have tried very hard not to direct hatred to anyone, I don't, I believe in tabula rasa and moving forward and I think I have made that quite clear. I still stand by views now though that the current Israeli administration is forcing the IDF soldiers to commit genocidal acts in order to ethnically cleanse Gaza and I think they have support from the right wing but I certainly don't paint all Israelis with that brush. As I said a while ago, the A Land for All movement is growing and I personally think it is the perfect solution for this shit show.

You are softening your stance somewhat which is good to see. In an earlier post you did say they could have wiped out the Palestinians in a few days ... Problem is, they would have to live with the international repercussions. This to me sounded like you were referring to IDF soldiers as well as the administration.

Which suggested that the only reason IDF soldiers have not been prepared to commit a complete massacre of Palestinian civilians is because the world is watching.

To end on a positive note, as I'm off to make that tea, I agree that the A Land for All movement is a positive one that - in a better world than we currently seem to have - could be as you say the perfect solution for this shit show.

I meant this evil administration could have wiped out the Palestinians in a few days. Soldiers are soldiers who have to do as they are ordered.

I agree that there will be IDF soldiers traumatized for the rest of their lives.

And Palestinians too.

And again, same for any war. Some soldiers traumatized, some radicalised by hatred, some with awful mental and physical health challenges, a high rate of addiction and suicide.

I think this is what the Golda Mier quote is about.

I feel so strongly for any mother sending her child off to war... I can't imagine sending my boys. They are sweet, kind, naive about violence and weapons, brave, sometimes easily led. I have no doubt war would fuck them up in unpredictable ways.

I cannot say strongly enough that war should be avoided at almost all costs. But also, awfully, sometimes necessary.

I'll never understand why people don't think war itself is bad enough. I often think people don't really understand how absolutely brutal just a plain old war is. Kill, or be killed. Its so fucked up.

Soldiers are soldiers I agree. Yet you have accused the IDF of being so much worse than normal soldiers.

In this thread alone, you have accused them of deliberately targeting children, of targeting aid workers and journalists. So not just soldiers then but uniquely evil ones.

You are so right. I'm off for a couple of days now but to add to your post. In times without war, sons bury their fathers but in times of war, fathers bury their sons. Not sure where it is from but I think it is quite profound.

Ahhhh I assume a proportion of any army will be made up of psychopaths.

I think it'd take a psychopath to do the 21 Roses on a Man's Body on anyone. If anyone doesn't want the details then just know its a form of torture Russian soldiers have used on Ukrainian prisoners.

I don't assume there's a larger proportion of Israeli psychopaths than Russian psychopaths. I always assume it'd be a statistically non significant variation.

I think it'd be a bit racist to assume one nation had a higher proportion of psychopaths than another.

Ok - we assume most soldiers are normal with a small proportion of psychopaths.

Have a feeling that many see the IDF the other way round. An assumption that most are psychopaths with a small proportion being normal.

Exactly.

The IDF can refuse to fight if they want to
and Israelis can refuse to join the IDF

This isn’t a privilege Palestinians have and forgive me if I care more about the mental trauma of those who can’t escape

Those who have been invaded, bombed, occupied and in terms of the subject matter of this thread
displaced into a tiny proportion of their own land

I find it abhorrent to turn this thread about Palestinian displacement in Gaza about the poor IDF

Here is an article from The Guardian about some members of the IDF

Well done them !!

Israeli army officers refuse to serve in ‘unnecessary, eternal war’ in Gaza

This article is more than 1 year old

In letter to Netanyahu, 41 signatories say government’s orders are ‘clearly illegal’ and hostages have been given ‘death sentence’

Harry Davies and Yuval Abraham in Jerusalem
Wed 11 Jun 2025 15.52 BST

Israel’s government is issuing “clearly illegal” orders that must not be obeyed, a group of Israeli military intelligence officers have said, announcing they will no longer participate in combat operations in Gaza.

In a letter addressed to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the defence minister, Israel Katz, and the head of the military,
the group of 41 officers and reservists said the government was waging an “unnecessary, eternal war” in Gaza.

The letter, which was shared online late on Tuesday, said the group would refuse to take part in a “war designed to preserve the rule of Netanyahu” and appease “anti-democratic and messianic elements in [his] government”.

The letter’s signatories are not named but are identified as members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)’s intelligence directorate, which has played a key role in the 20-month offensive in the Gaza Strip, particularly through the selection of bombing targets.

Addressing the impact of the offensive on civilians in the territory, the group wrote:

“When a government acts for ulterior motives, harms civilians and leads to the killing of innocent people, the orders it issues are clearly illegal, and we must not obey them.”

The intelligence officers said Netanyahu’s government had given a “death sentence” to the Israeli hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza when it “chose to collapse” the ceasefire deal in March.

The group, which is understood to include members of the elite military surveillance division Unit 8200, claimed that “many hostages have already been killed by IDF bombings” and accused the government of continuing to “abandon their lives”.

Organised by the anti-war group Soldiers for the Hostages, the letter comes amid growing dissent within certain parts of the military over the continuation of the war in Gaza and an apparent increase in the numbers of soldiers who are refusing to fight.

Speaking to the Guardian, one of the intelligence officers who signed the letter said: “The hope is that as many people as possible will challenge the legitimacy of this operation and of this government.”

They added:
“All the death is unnecessary. The hostages suffer and die. Soldiers are sent for nothing. And all the killing in Gaza, everything is completely unnecessary.”

The intelligence officers’ letter adds to open criticism in recent months from some quarters of the military.

In April, 250 reservists and alumni from Unit 8200 urged the government to end the war, though they stopped short of calling for a general refusal to serve.

The latest statement calls on every Israeli “to do everything in their power” to oppose the war and says “some of us will refuse [to serve] publicly” while many others will refuse “in other, non-public ways”.

One intelligence officer who has recently refused to serve said they could no longer participate in a war in which the military “didn’t think twice” about harming civilians when bombing targets in Gaza.

In an interview, they said: “I felt that it was immoral and insanely excessive. I felt that they stopped thinking and feeling, and they were willing to do everything to achieve a goal that wasn’t really a real goal … and if there is a goal, it’s to try to get rid of Gaza’s population by any means.”
The IDF has been approached for comment

There are laws which have stood us in good stead and some that have not.

There is an established legal precedent under international law that dictates countries must not support, aid, or assist states accused of genocide. This obligation arises directly from the 1948 Genocide Convention and customary international law.

The UN as an organisation (rather than small commissions of inquiry) make it clear that it is not up to the UN to determine whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza or not. From the BBC, dated September 2025:

The UN says it cannot make a legal determination as to whether a situation constitutes genocide under international law. It says a situation is referred to as genocide only after a competent national or international court has declared it as such.

When asked by journalists on Tuesday if he would consider using the word genocide to describe Israel's actions in Gaza, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said: "It's for the court to decide whether it's genocide or not, and we see the evidence mounting."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8641wv0n4go