Displaced Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza Strip move with their belongings along the Sea Road, near Wadi Gaza on Saturday.Credit: AP
Witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire on crowds in the Netzarim Corridor, an Israeli military zone that bisects Gaza. “We were trying to get food, but we were met with the occupation’s bullets,” said Ragheb Abu Lebda, who saw at least three people bleeding from gunshot wounds. “It’s a death trap.”
The corridor has become increasingly perilous. Civilians have been killed as UN humanitarian convoys are overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds, or shot on their way to sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed US contractor.
The GHF told the Associated Press that there was “no incident at or near our site today.” Israel’s military did not respond to questions about Sunday’s casualties.
Meanwhile, Israel is reportedly planning to treat activist Greta Thunberg as a terrorist as she and other campaigners set off from Barcelona on board a flotilla of boats attempting to travel to Gaza in the largest attempt yet to break the long Israeli blockade of the territory. The Global Sumud Flotilla left on Sunday carrying food, water and medicine on about 20 boats and organisers more would join at ports along the way. Some 70 boats are expected to take part in the final leg of the journey.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, centre, before boarding a boatin Barcelona, part of a civilian flotilla bound for Gaza to break the Israeli blockade and deliver humanitarian aid.Credit: AP
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Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, will present Netanyahu with a proposal to detain the activists in harsh “terrorist-level” conditions in the Ktzi’ot and Damon detention centres for females, the London Telegraph said, citing reports in Israel Hayom, one of Israel’s biggest newspapers.
In June, Thunberg and 11 other activists aboard a previous flotilla were detained by the Israeli Navy 185 kilometres west of Gaza, where they were given water and sandwiches before being escorted to the port of Ashdod in Israel.
Post-war plan surfaces
In another development, the Trump administration would pay Palestinians $US5000 to leave Gaza as part of a proposal for the US to take over the enclave for 10 years, according to The Washington Post.
A post-war plan for Gaza is circulating within the administration that would see the US administer the war-torn enclave for at least a decade, the relocation of Gaza’s population and its rebuilding as a tourist resort and manufacturing hub.
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The Post reported that according to a 38-page prospectus it had seen, Gaza’s 2 million population would at least temporarily leave either through “voluntary” departures to another country or into restricted areas within the territory during reconstruction.
Reuters previously reported there was a proposal to build large-scale camps called “Humanitarian Transit Areas” inside – and possibly outside – Gaza to house the Palestinian population. That plan carried the name of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, the controversial American-backed aid group now administering aid distribution.
Anyone who owns land would be offered a “digital token” in exchange for rights to redevelop their property, the Post reported, adding that each Palestinian who left would be provided with $5000 in cash and subsidies to cover four years of rent. They would also be provided with a year of food, it added.
The United Nations says about 65,000 Palestinians have evacuated since August 1, including 23,199 in the past week. More than 90 per cent of the more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced at least once during the war, many of them multiple times, according to the UN.
At least 63,371 Palestinians have died during the war, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians, but says about half were women and children.
AP, Reuters
