....Israel’s security cabinet green-lit Netanyahu’s proposal to occupy Gaza City, one of the few remaining areas in the Gaza Strip outside of Israel’s control, at a meeting earlier this month. The decision came as hard-liners in the prime minister’s government called for Israel to occupy the entire Gaza Strip. Senior military leaders opposed the plan, and IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir argued that the military had already “met and even exceeded” its objectives in Gaza.
The planned operation has drawn condemnation from the United Nations and countries around the world, which warned
it would lead to the forced displacement of about a million Palestinians in the area and deepen the suffering of civilians throughout the territory....
Intense Israeli strikes over the past 10 days in eastern and southern Gaza City — a prelude to the ground operation — have already driven thousands of people to flee, according to the U.N. and international organizations tracking population movements. The attacks “indicate that the systematic destruction of Gaza City is already underway,” the U.N. human rights office said in a statement Wednesday....
The U.N. human rights office called the mass displacement of civilians from Gaza City a breach of international law and warned that Israel’s operation risks “triggering an unprecedented, life-threatening humanitarian crisis and permanently extinguishing the Palestinian presence in Gaza’s largest urban area.”...