Palestine rejects Israeli plan to create buffer zone in northern Gaza

RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Palestinian Authority (PA) rejected an Israeli plan on Wednesday to establish a buffer zone in northern Gaza for distributing aid through an American company.

"The talk about establishing a buffer zone in northern Gaza and Jabalia to distribute aid in the Gaza Strip through an American private company with foreign funding is rejected and completely unacceptable," PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.

He said such plans “contradict all international legitimacy resolutions and international law, which considers Gaza an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories.”

“Any plans related to the future of the Gaza Strip, or the distribution of aid there, can only be carried out through the State of Palestine, and through the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), and other relevant international organizations,” he stressed.

Israel’s Army Radio reported early Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz held talks with specialists to discuss a plan to bring a private American security company to Gaza.

Since Oct. 5, Israel has launched a large-scale ground operation in northern Gaza to allegedly prevent Palestinian resistance group Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.

Since then, no humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, and fuel, was allowed into the area, leaving most of the population there on the verge of imminent famine.

More than 2,000 people have since been killed, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The onslaught was the latest episode in a brutal Israeli war on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 44,000 people, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala