Israel is preventing the return of Palestinians, who were forcibly displaced from their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of the so-called “Generals’ Plan” seeking to clear the area for a closed military zone, a report says.

The Haaretz daily reported that despite denials, the Israeli military has been implementing “a considerable part” of the controversial plan, under which it orders civilians to leave the entirely besieged northern Gaza, with those remaining deemed legitimate targets.

The situation on the ground proves that the occupation’s army is “in effect bisecting the northern Strip,” the report said. “The residents don’t have permission to return to the areas that have been evacuated, even in places where the army’s activity has ended.”

It added that currently the residents have been evicted from the northern quarter of the Gaza Strip south of Jabalia, and perhaps even from up until the Shati refugee camp.

The forced eviction has been accompanied by “mass destruction of homes and infrastructure from Jabalia northward,” the report noted.

“These are almost irreversible changes that will take the Palestinians years to repair, if they manage to at all.”

Meanwhile, the report said that the occupation’s military has rendered areas like Beit Lahia uninhabitable, with artillery fired at night to prevent residents from returning home.

“The army has begun the stage of cleansing the northern Strip while it prepares to hold onto the area for a long time to come,” it added. 

On Tuesday, Channel 12 TV reported that the Israeli military is preparing to capture Jabalia and does not plan to allow for the return of residents for the time being. 

Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

So far, the occupying regime has killed at least 43,391 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 102,347 others, in Gaza. 

Last month, Israel intensified its attacks in the northern Gaza Strip, cut the area off from the rest of the territory, and blocked nearly all food aid from entering the region.

Major international aid organizations have called on the international community to stop Israel’s forced displacement in northern Gaza.

On Friday, leaders of 15 UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations said the situation in northern Gaza is “apocalyptic” and that the entire population there is “at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence.”