Israel may choose to do this by slicing up the Gaza Strip; instead of one large prison, in which Israel has kept two million Palestinians since 2007, it will build several smaller prison cells. Using its technology and surveillance systems, it could then identify Hamas operatives through biometric information, photographs, information from collaborators, and interrogation of prisoners.
Initially, Israel will try to implement this policy in the
northern Gaza Strip. In the
southern strip, where the army ordered residents of the north to evacuate to, Israel could target Hamas members on a more specific basis. The government apparently hopes that the Israeli hostages are being held in the north, and that it will be able to reach most of them alive. In general, this is uncertain.
Alongside the massive forced population transfer, Israel will have to go from house to house in northern Gaza while imposing curfews on certain areas. This will likely be its method of finding Hamas members with minimal losses to Israeli forces. Even if the confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon stays confined to Israel’s northern border, this method in Gaza will surely take months.
A war of attrition is liable to develop in the northern strip, and it is uncertain whether the Israelis who were evacuated from the Gaza border region will be able to return to their homes. Israel would eventually have to take over the management of northern Gaza. The southern strip, Israel apparently hopes, will be managed by an international body comprising members of Qatar, Egypt, the UN, and other international aid agencies.
One can expect Israel’s national-religious government to push for the establishment of settlements in the northern Gaza Strip, ostensibly for “security reasons,” meaning, control.
