Hamas rejects Israel’s plan to relocate Gaza City residents as ‘blatant deception’

Hamas says that Israel’s plan to relocate residents from Gaza City constitutes a “new wave of genocide and displacement” for hundreds of thousands of residents in the area.

The terror group says the planned deployment of tents and other shelter equipment by Israel into southern Gaza was a “blatant deception.”

Israel said earlier this month that it intended to launch a new offensive to seize control of northern Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban center. The IDF says it is preparing to provide tents and other equipment starting on Sunday ahead of its plan to relocate residents from combat zones to the south of the enclave “to ensure their safety.”

Hamas says in a statement that the deployment of tents under the guise of humanitarian purposes is intended to “cover up a brutal crime that the occupation forces prepare to execute.”

The plan has raised international alarm over the fate of the war-torn Strip, which is home to about 2.2 million people. It has also drawn sharp backlash in Israel, where relatives of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas are holding a nationwide strike in protest of the plan. They are calling for an end to the war through a negotiated hostage-release deal.