GAZA – Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a plan to force Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza and put Hamas militants who remain in the area under siege in order to force the release of hostages. The plan, published by retired military commanders and floated by some parliament members this month, calls for the area to be declared “a closed military zone” after civilians have been told to leave.

The Likud MP Avichai Boaron said the plan was ‘‘currently being evaluated by the government”. “According to the plan, the IDF will evacuate all the civilians who are in the north of Gaza, from the border to the Gaza River,” Boaron told the Guardian. ‘‘And after they will evacuate, the IDF will assume that only the terrorists will remain. When the civilians population has left, you can find and kill all the terrorists without harming the civilians.”

The Israeli national broadcaster, Kan, quoted the Israeli prime minister as saying the blueprint “makes sense” and that it was “one of the plans being considered”. An Israeli official quoted by CNN confirmed the veracity of the quote but said: “Seeing it positively does not mean adopting it.” According to the UN, between 300,000 and 500,000 Palestinians, most of them displaced, are living in the northern part of Gaza.

The retired Israel Defense Forces major general Giora Eiland, a former IDF strategist and a previous head of Israel’s national security council, explained the main steps of the plan in a video published two weeks ago. “The reality today in Gaza is that [the Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar is really not stressed,” he said in the video. “The right thing to do is to inform the approximately 300,000 residents who remained in the northern Gaza Strip, citizen residents, of the following: not that we are suggesting you leave the northern Gaza Strip; we are ordering you to leave the northern Gaza Strip. (The Guardian)…[+]

BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a message to Anura Kumara Dissanayake to congratulate him on his inauguration as president of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

Xi hailed China and Sri Lanka as traditional friendly neighbors, saying that since the establishment of diplomatic ties 67 years ago, China and Sri Lanka have always understood and supported each other, setting a good example of friendly coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation between countries of different sizes.

Xi said that he prizes the development of China-Sri Lanka relations, and stands ready to work with President Dissanayake to carry forward the traditional friendship, and enhance political mutual trust.

He also pledged to work with the Sri Lankan leader to facilitate more fruitful high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and make steady and long-term progress of China-Sri Lanka strategic cooperative partnership featuring sincere mutual assistance and ever-lasting friendship so as to better benefit the people of the two countries. (Xinhua)

Photo: Anura Kumara Dissanayake arrives at the Election Commission office in Colombo after his victory in Sri Lanka’s presidential election. (CFP)…[+]