The Israeli military has listed the return of the remaining Israeli captives in Gaza as its least important goal in its plans for an escalated assault on the Strip, Haaretz reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, retrieving the hostages was placed last in a list of six objectives. Those goals include:
- Defeating Hamas
- Operational control over the territory
- Demilitarizing the territory
- Striking Hamas government targets
- Concentrating and moving the population
- Returning the captives
News of the Israeli military’s goals comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that retrieving the hostages was not his priority, something that’s been clear for a long time but hasn’t been explicitly stated by the Israeli leader until last week.
The Israeli military finalized plans for the expanded offensive, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariot,” on Tuesday and Wednesday after the government approved the escalation.
The purpose of the expanded assault is to achieve the full Israeli military occupation of Gaza and concentrate the entire civilian population into a tiny area of southern Gaza with the goal of forcing them to leave to achieve ethnic cleansing.
The inclusion of “concentrating and moving the population” as the fifth goal in the Israeli military’s list makes clear that ethnic cleansing is being prioritized over the hostages.
“The Gazan citizens will be concentrated in the south,” Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday. “They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places.”
