'Another chapter' IDF likely to attack crowded camps, says ex-general

Israeli military forces are likely to mount new attacks in parts of Gaza now crowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced people once they have concluded their current offensive into Gaza City, a former Israeli national security adviser and general has said.

- Jason Burke

Yaakov Amidror, who served as national security adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu from 2011 to 2013 after decades in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said the “hard core” of Hamas was in Gaza City but that “another chapter” could follow after the offensive there: an attack into the “central camps” area farther south.

“The campaign in Gaza City will be three months of intensive [fighting] then six months to clear it [of Hamas fighters] so there is no threat from there and then we decide about the central camps,” Amidror said.

The “central camps” refers to the heavily built-up Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza. Both are packed with displaced Palestinians from elsewhere in Gaza, and have been repeatedly subjected to airstrikes.

Aid officials working in Gaza told the Guardian they had been “warned off” investing substantial resources in new facilities in the central camps area during recent discussions with Israeli military officials.

“Our clear understanding from those conversations was that the IDF would be going in there, though it wasn’t clear if that meant now or after they’re done in Gaza City,” one said.