After Hamas agreed to release ten Israeli hostages as part of a ceasefire agreement, Israeli officials abruptly ended the negotiations with a demand to retain control of 40% of the Gaza Strip and turn the remaining areas into Israeli-controlled concentration camps for all remaining survivors of the ongoing genocide.
A new report by Al Jazeera confirms and expands on key findings first reported by Drop Site News’s Jeremy Scahill and Jawa Ahmad—that Israel has submitted a 60-day “ceasefire” proposal designed to lock hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into a militarized concentration camp in Rafah and encircling Gaza with deep buffer zones.
A senior Hamas official told Drop Site that the Israeli proposal includes an Israeli-controlled encirclement zone—2 km deep in the north and east, 4 km through the south—that would place the Rafah crossing under full Israeli control. He described the outcome as a “Rafah ghetto” intended to confine at least 600,000 Palestinians in tents, subject to screening, with the long-term goal of “voluntary emigration.” He said Hamas would not accept such terms.
Al Jazeera adds that the Israeli map would seize 40% of Gaza’s territory, including large areas of Beit Lahia, Um al-Nasr, most of Beit Hanoun, and all of Khuza’a, extending into Al-Tuffah, Shujaiya, Zeitoun, and Deir al-Balah. The plan, it adds, would prevent 700,000 Palestinians from returning to their homes and forcibly concentrate them in Rafah.
Israel’s Channel 12 reports today that Israel is willing to withdraw from the Morag corridor (which separates Rafah from Khan Younis) only if it retains full control of Rafah.
The same areas designated for the concentration camp are where Israeli forces and U.S.-funded contractors have killed many of the 650 Palestinians killed in recent weeks near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid sites, according to the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR).
Read the full report from DropSite News.
According to the Quds News Network, the map leaves the entire city of Rafah under Israeli military occupation. It shows no plan to restore civilian access to Gaza’s border crossings. This would cut off Palestinians from the outside world by land, keeping all border terminals under Israeli control.
Large swaths of northern Gaza (Beit Lahia, Um al-Nasr, most of Beit Hanoun, and all of Khuza’a) fall inside the proposed Israeli-controlled zone.
Palestinian researcher Mahmoud Al-Aila, based in Gaza, said the Israeli delegation presented this map during negotiations in Doha. He explained that Israel wants to pull its forces back only to the red line, not to the recognized border at the black line. The Palestinian resistance, however, is demanding full withdrawal to the original boundary.
“If this plan goes through, God forbid,” said Al-Aila, “it would redraw Gaza’s map and steal vast areas of land owned by our people.”
Analysts and negotiators warn that this map paves the way for mass expulsion. By concentrating hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Rafah, Israel appears to be setting up a long-term containment zone, what some call a staging area for forced migration to Egypt or the sea.
“This is the second Nakba they want Palestinians to sign off on,” said political analyst Saeed Ziyad. “It’s not a peace plan, it’s a surrender to ethnic cleansing.”
Negotiations have stalled largely due to this issue. Al-Aila confirmed that the Israeli delegation refuses to budge on the red-line withdrawal.
“There is no retreat in talks,” said Al-Aila. “But progress is very slow because of this one point. Still, I believe with full confidence that these sacrifices will not be wasted.”
