Ex-Israeli general calls for siege of northern Gaza amid claims tactic is ‘illegal’

A former head of the Israeli national security council has called for a siege on northern Gaza.

Interviewed on Sky News’ The World, Major General Giora Eiland said the 400,000 people located there should be given 10 days to leave and those who stay should be designated combatants.

The retired general is one of a number who have called for northern Gaza to be cleared of civilians and the remaining militants to be put under siege until they surrender.

He told chief presenter Mark Austin: “A siege is a legitimate, practical measure that can be taken against the enemy, and you can cause your enemy to surrender or to die in starvation.”

He said the alternative was to use “regular military tactics, and the result would be that thousands of civilians will be killed because the terrorists and civilians are living together”.

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Sam Rose, deputy director of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, said civilians who are still in the north have either chosen to be there or are sick and vulnerable.

“Forcible displacement of these people is illegal under international law,” he said.

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“There is no safe passage out of there.

Describing the area as a “valley of death”, he argued there was “simply no space” in southern Gaza, with the beaches “teeming with hundreds of thousands of people”.

“The place is so overcrowded, so cramped, the types of munitions that are being used mean that it is impossible for any attacks on whoever to avoid those attacks causing mass civilian casualties.”

Israel’s military has denied it is planning to lay siege to northern Gaza.

“We have not received a plan like that,” military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said.

“We are making sure we’re getting civilians out of harm’s way while we operate against those terror cells in Jabalia.”