IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Ronen Bar on Tuesday approved the final tactical plans for the widening of the Gaza invasion, which was more generally authorized by the security cabinet on Monday.
At this stage, this means that the IDF Southern Command leaders, generals, brigade commanders, and the Shin Bet already have practical “marching” orders for where to maneuver and with which forces.
The only thing holding them back now is waiting for all necessary IDF reservists to arrive and be ready for action, as well as giving Hamas a last opportunity to cut a new hostage deal until after US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region concludes around May 15-16.
This comes a day after a senior security source said on Monday that as part of the impending widening of the invasion of Gaza, the IDF plans to completely clear northern Gaza of civilians, sending them to the enclave’s south, where the new humanitarian aid pilot program will start.
This is effectively the implementation of the “General’s Plan,” which was widely discussed for much of 2024 but never implemented under a mix of pressure from the Biden administration and objections within the IDF itself.
According to the plan – created by former National Security Council chief Giora Eiland and also adopted by a group of senior reservist officers who were upset that the war was not leading to a quick enough defeat of Hamas – if all civilians are cleared from northern Gaza, then the IDF could completely let loose against any remaining Hamas terrorists in the area.
Israel has had a freer hand regarding how it handles war tactics and humanitarian aid since US President Donald Trump entered office.
The senior security source added that most of Gaza, other than certain set zones, would be cleared and that northern Gaza would be mostly flattened as the IDF did in the Rafah area by the Morag Corridor.
This would make it much harder for Hamas to continue to hide in northern Gaza, and it would also make it easier to separate groups of Gazans to receive food without Hamas interference.
Further, the source said that in the new phase of the invasion, Israel will significantly increase how much of Gaza it will hold onto, including keeping forces stationed in areas that have been taken over, far beyond the already 40% of Gaza that has been taken over.
In the event of a new ceasefire deal with Hamas, the source said that Israel would keep, at a minimum, a security zone around Gaza to secure the Israeli border perimeter.
Aid distribution in Gaza
All of this comes after The Jerusalem Post confirmed that the two companies expected to handle Gaza food distribution once Israel allows aid to enter are American companies Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions.
These are the same companies who, along with certain Egyptian officials, supervised the checking of vehicles seeking to pass through from southern to northern Gaza in January of this year after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas at the time went into effect.
The companies’ personnel often have special forces or CIA backgrounds to be qualified for handling complex foreign missions.
Although there is still no set date, the aid is expected to be restarted in the coming weeks.
The Washington Post has reported that these companies will run five food distribution hubs in southern Gaza as part of the pilot program for returning at least 60 trucks of food per day to the enclave.