Introduction

After suffering the October 7 massacre, Israel embarked on the Swords of Iron war in the Gaza Strip, along with additional theaters of war. Following the ground maneuver, the IDF issued instructions for Gaza's civilian population to evacuate the battle areas in order to minimize harm to non-combatants and allow for orderly operational deployment. Concurrently with a wide-ranging humanitarian operation which to date has achieved distribution of roughly a million tons of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian situation there has remained a challenge as Hamas continues to steal considerable quantities of the aid. Meanwhile, extensive built-up areas have been left destroyed, or are no longer inhabitable, in the wake of the IDF's operational deployment against the extensive terrorist infrastructures from which Hamas was operating. More than a million Gazans have been designated IDPs (internally displaced people) after evacuation from their homes.

Over and above the situation on the ground and the needs that it generates, security and strategic needs arise as well. The existing Hamas infrastructures, through which Hamas controls the population and maintains its power, are largely based on pre-existing infrastructures above ground and underground — as well as on the Gazan social structure, by means of which…