A document compiled by Israel’s Intelligence Ministry recommends moving Gaza’s civilian population to Egypt’s barren wilderness known as the Sinai Peninsula as a final solution for the Gaza Strip following the toppling of its elected Hamas rulers, according to a copy of the document published by the Sicha Mekomit website.

The ten-page document, dated October 13, recommends that Israel establish tent cities in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula to accommodate the Gazan population. These tent cities should then be developed into permanent settlements, with a ’sterile zone of several kilometers’ separating them from the Israeli border. 

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Under the plan, Gaza’s 2.3 million residents would be told that ’there is no longer any hope of returning to the territories that Israel will occupy in the near future,’ and that ’Allah made sure that you lost this land because of the leadership of Hamas.’

US support will be vital to the plan’s success, the document states. Washington could put ’pressure on Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates to contribute to the initiative either in resources or in accepting displaced persons,’  it notes, adding that Spain, Greece, and Canada could also be convinced to accept refugees from the strip.

The document is being downplayed by government officials, with the Prime Minister’s Office telling Haaretz that it represents ‘initial thoughts’ on the issue, which is currently not being considered by authorities focused on the war effort and not the day after.

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The document, which is dated October 13. This date was several weeks before the Hamas retaliatory attack that sparked Israel’s bloodletting in Gaza. The demonic document calls for the civilian population to be moved to tent cities in the northern Sinai desert and sometime in the undisclosed future the building of permanent towns and the opening of a humanitarian corridor. The plan includes a several-kilometer-wide ‘sterile’ buffer zone inside Egypt, to ensure the population cannot settle on Israel’s borders.

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The plan notes likely issues with international legitimacy but justifies the move by couching it in terms of a solution for a refugee population seeking shelter from war… of Israel’s making. It claims such forced transfer would also serve as a warning to Hezbollah, presumably as what Israel could force on southern Lebanon, an area previously occupied by Israel’s military from 1982 to 2000.

The document also includes two other options, importing Palestinian Authority control into the Strip or propping up a local regime, but dismisses both as problematic for various reasons, including the fact that it will not serve as a deterrent to attacking Israel. Egypt has refused to consider taking in Palestinians fleeing Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

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