Israeli rights groups warn IDF might be implementing controversial plan to besiege northern Gaza

Israeli rights groups call on the international community to prevent Israel from carrying out a controversial plan to subdue and besiege northern Gaza.

Israel has ordered the entire remaining population of the northern third of Gaza, estimated at around 400,000 people, to evacuate to the south and has reportedly blocked aid entering the area since the start of the month.

That has raised fears among Palestinians that Israel intends to implement a plan devised by former generals in which it would order all civilians out of northern Gaza and label anyone remaining there a combatant — a surrender-or-starve strategy that rights groups say would violate international law.

The plan has been presented to the Israeli government, but it’s unclear whether it has been adopted. The military says it has not received such orders.

A statement by Israeli rights groups say there are “alarming signs” that Israel is beginning to implement it.

The statement, signed by B’Tselem, Gisha, Yesh Din and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, warns that states “have an obligation to prevent the crimes of starvation and forcible transfer.”