GAZA – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a plan to force all Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, in order to lay siege to Hamas and force the release of hostages.

It is unclear how many Palestinians remain north of the so-called Netzarim Corridor, which splits Gaza in two, but estimates run into the hundreds of thousands. The plan does not mention whether, when, or how civilians would be allowed to return to northern Gaza. After nearly a year of war, with no part of Gaza immune from Israeli airstrikes, Palestinians have been increasingly unwilling to heed Israeli demands to relocate.

The idea comes from a group of retired Israeli military generals, who have formally presented it to the Israeli cabinet and a powerful parliamentary committee. The goal, they say, is to use siege tactics to starve Hamas fighters and force them to release 101 hostages still held in the territory. “Those who leave will receive food and water,” Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli military general who is spearheading the proposal, says in a slickly produced video posted online earlier this month. “But in a week the entire territory of the northern Gaza Strip will become military territory, and this military territory as far as we are concerned, no supplies will enter it.”

Israeli national broadcaster Kan, a CNN affiliate, reported on Sunday that Netanyahu, in a closed-door meeting with the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that the plan “makes a lot of sense”. “It is one of the plans being considered, but there are several others,” he said, according to Kan. “We are committed to dismantling the civilian control of Hamas.” It is unclear when the meeting took place. An Israeli official confirmed the veracity of that quote, but said, “seeing it positively does not mean adopting it”.

The official said that the head of the Israel Defense Forces’ strategic division will in the coming days present to Netanyahu “several alternatives”, for how to “deprive Hamas of civilian control capabilities in Gaza”. (CNN) …[+]