Inside Israel’s ‘soft’ ethnic cleansing plan for Gaza through the eyes of its victims
Tareq S. Hajjaj reports in Mondoweiss on 21 September 21 2026:
On November 25, 2025, Wissam Yassin, 50, left the Gaza Strip with her two daughters through the Kerem Shalom crossing, as part of an evacuation organized by the French Embassy. It came after several attempts by Yassin, who works for the U.S.-funded Alhurra television channel, and her ex-husband, who works for Radio France, to secure a way out for their two daughters.
Yassin and her family were instructed to go to a UNICEF facility, after which the French Embassy took responsibility for their departure. They left via the Rafah Crossing, traveled through Kerem Shalom, reached Jordan, and were flown directly to France.
“I felt as though I had been uprooted from my place and taken somewhere else,” Yassin, who cared for her children on her own throughout at least five displacements, said. “I wished I could stay in Gaza, but at the same time, I wanted a future and a dignified life for my children.”
Yassin’s family is one of thousands of families forced to leave Gaza since October 2023 – through embassy evacuations, academic fellowships, and World Health Organization (WHO) medical corridors. These are the only channels through which departure is currently possible, and they move slowly and selectively. The people who leave do so while fully aware that they may not be able to return, but they’re also aware that Israeli officials have openly stated, at the highest levels of government, that emptying Gaza of its Palestinian population is an explicit policy and ultimate goal.
The displacement plan
Israeli statements calling for the removal of Gaza’s population have not been hidden. Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have repeatedly and publicly made them.