UK’s Guardian appears to muff general’s quote on return of north Gaza civilians

Contrary to a Wednesday report in The Guardian, the commander of the IDF’s 162nd Division did not say that Palestinian civilians will be prevented from returning to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip and that no humanitarian aid will be delivered there.

The British newspaper appears to have mistakenly taken a somewhat inaccurate paraphrase of comments by division commander Brig. Gen. Itzik Cohen from a report in Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, presenting it as a direct quote from the general.

After the Guardian piece was published, the army responded to the broadsheet that the comments were taken out of context and did not “reflect the IDF’s objectives and values,” the Guardian reports.

Cohen had given an off-record briefing to reporters on Tuesday on the IDF’s ongoing operation in Jabalia.

In the briefing, reporters were told that Palestinian civilians who are being evacuated from the Jabalia area specifically — not all of northern Gaza — will not be able to return for now, to allow the army to continue operations against Hamas.

The vast majority of the estimated 55,000 Palestinians who have evacuated the Jabalia area in recent weeks have headed to Gaza City, also in the Strip’s north.

The IDF plans to evacuate civilians from other towns in the northern Gaza Strip, including Beit Lahiya, to operate against Hamas without harming innocents. The estimated 3,000 civilians in Beit Lahiya will not be able to return to their homes amid operations against Hamas there.

It is unclear how long such operations will last.

Separately, since the beginning of the ground offensive, the IDF has not allowed Palestinians who evacuated to southern Gaza to return to the Strip’s north.