"Tightening the Chokehold": Amjad Iraqi on Israel's Plans to "Empty Out" Gaza and Annex West Bank

Israel's security cabinet is considering plans to expand Israel's assault on Gaza toward a full military takeover, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly pushing for a monthslong offensive on Gaza City and central Gaza refugee camps. The cabinet meeting comes as Israel's forced starvation of Gaza claimed at least four new victims over the past 24 hours, according to health officials. Israeli politicians have really made it no secret that they envision and want to see the mass displacement of Palestinians as southward as possible, if not completely ejected from the Gaza Strip," says Amjad Iraqi, senior Israel-Palestine analyst at the International Crisis Group. Given that Israel's allies have allowed the state to act with impunity, Iraqi adds, you also cannot separate Gaza and the West Bank." The Israeli government is deciding that it could actually pursue and replicate many of the same policies in the West Bank."