Israel’s latest vision for Gaza has a name: Concentration camp
An Israeli soldier stands next to the fence encircling the Gaza Strip, 18 March 2025
Meron Rapoport writes in +972 on 2 April 2025:
Two weeks ago, the right-wing Israeli journalist Yinon Magal posted the following on X: “This time, the IDF intends to evacuate all residents of the Gaza Strip to a new humanitarian zone that will be arranged for long-term stay, will be enclosed, and anyone entering it will first be checked to ensure they are not a terrorist. The IDF will not allow a rogue population to refuse evacuation this time. Anyone remaining outside the humanitarian zone will be implicated. This plan has American backing.”
The very same day, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz released a video statement hinting at something similar. “Residents of Gaza, this is your final warning,” he said. “The Air Force’s attack on Hamas terrorists was just the first step. The next phase will be far harsher, and you will pay the full price. Soon, the evacuation of the population from combat zones will resume.
“If all Israeli hostages are not released and Hamas is not removed from Gaza, Israel will act with unprecedented force,” Katz continued. “Take the advice of the U.S. president: return the hostages and remove Hamas, and other options will open for you — including relocation to other countries for those who wish. The alternative is complete destruction and devastation.”
The parallels between the two statements are clearly no coincidence. Even if Magal did not learn about Israel’s new war plan directly from Katz or the army’s new chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, it is reasonable to assume he heard it from some other senior military sources.
In yet another piece of foreshadowing, journalist Yoav Zitun of Israeli news site Ynet drew attention to remarks made by Brig. Gen. Erez Wiener after his recent dismissal from the army for mishandling classified documents. “It saddens me that after a year and a half of ‘pushing the cart uphill,’ just when it finally seems like we’ve reached the final stretch and the fighting will take the right turn (which should have happened a year ago), I won’t be at the helm,” Wiener wrote on Facebook.
As Zitun noted, Wiener is no ordinary officer. Before his firing, he played a pivotal role in planning the army’s operations in Gaza, where he consistently pushed to impose full Israeli military rule over the territory. If Wiener, who was reportedly implicated in leaks to far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich, says that “the fighting will take the right turn,” one can infer what kind of turn he means. This also aligns with the apparent desires of Chief of Staff Zamir, as well as details of an attack plan that were allegedly leaked to the Wall Street Journal earlier last month.