The Israeli Defense and Security Forum's (IDSF) proposal calls for establishing "displaced persons' cities" across Gaza. These cities would be administered by a "temporary" Israeli-linked body, which would be controlled by Israel's National Security Council and funded by international governments, organizations, and private donors. The body would effectively place Gaza under complete Israeli oversight but without formal annexation.
Aid to these displaced persons' cities, which would remain under constant surveillance, would be distributed through biometric data. Hamas and UNRWA would be excluded from receiving aid, further undermining Palestinian autonomy.
The plan first surfaced in December 2024 – two months before Trump announced plans to expel Gaza's 2.4 million Palestinians from the territory in late February. It aims to solidify Israel's occupation of the strip.
The plan, which is part of a broader, long-term vision to erase Palestinian sovereignty, envisions an Israeli-controlled and divided Gaza.
All Palestinian factions, Egypt, Jordan, and the Arab League have condemned these Israeli/American schemes as ethnic cleansing.
In response, Egypt proposed a detailed Gaza reconstruction plan, which promises to rebuild the Gaza Strip within three years without displacing its Palestinian population.
The Egypt/Arab plan was endorsed by the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union, and several key countries.
Reoccupying Gaza
The plan's rollout coincides with Israel's unilateral resumption of its genocidal war on Gaza since 18 March, after a period of relative calm that followed the 19 January ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the US.
In less than two weeks, the Israeli army killed over 1,040 Palestinians, including at least 322 children, and wounded over 2,400.
It also coincides with the recent Israeli announcement of plans to build 17 Jewish settlements inside Gaza to end any meaningful Palestinian contiguity in the strip.
Renewed Israeli airstrikes displaced tens of thousands out of densely-populated centres in Rafah, Khan Younis, and Gaza City to cage displaced Gazans in smaller groups and more easily-controlled locales.
Under the Israeli plan, the Israeli army ruling Gaza, which would look something like the infamous bantustans of apartheid-era South Africa, would have unrestricted movement within displaced persons' cities, ostensibly to target so-called "Hamas pockets."
The Israeli army would subject Gaza residents to daily and endless security checkpoints and restrictions on movement, a la West Bank, to maintain ironclad control over the population and undermine any social and political cohesion.
Accordingly, the plan aims to exploit the displacement of some 90 percent of Gaza's population by forming a leadership "detached from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority" while dismantling existing civil governance systems in favour of one entirely under Israeli control.
Israel's actions on the ground mirror this strategy.
After 18 March, the Israeli army reoccupied the Netzarim corridor, cutting off Gaza City from the rest of the strip.
Besides maintaining control over the Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt/Gaza border, the Israeli military announced plans to create the so-called Morag to isolate Rafah in the southernmost part of Gaza from the north of the strip.
Defence Minister Israel Katz also recently announced expanding military operations in Gaza to "seize large areas" and incorporate them into Israeli security zones.
The total death toll since the war began on 7 October 2023 has now surpassed 50,423, with more than 114,000 people wounded, the majority of whom are women and children.
Since 2 March, Tel Aviv has sealed all crossings to Gaza, blocking the entry of essential goods such as food, water, fuel, and medicine, leaving more than 2 million Palestinians on the brink of starvation.
Though framed as "temporary," the plan threatens to become a long-term reality, further entrenching Israel's presence in Gaza and denying Palestinians a meaningful path to self-determination.
Stop the war machine!
On Friday, Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul-Gheit urged all peace-loving nations to immediately intervene and stop Israel’s “war machine” in the Middle East
Aboul-Gheit said that in its current wars on the occupied Palestinian territory, especially Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, Israel has entered a phase in which it deliberately breaches signed agreements, acts with impunity, and kills more civilians.
He warned of the consequences of global powerlessness before the occupation’s brazen disregard for everything international law stands for.
“The Israeli war machine does not seem inclined to cease its operations as long as the occupation’s leaders insist on addressing their internal crises by exporting them,” the Arab League’s Secretary-General said, adding that this strategy has become evident to all.
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