The United States and key European countries are skeptical of Israel's claims that it is not pushing all residents out of northern Gaza, saying the Israeli denial does not accurately reflect the IDF's operations in the area.

Diplomats from Western countries said that Israel's claims in this regard did not assuage their concerns about the displacement of residents of the northern Gaza Strip, and added that they are facing difficulties in gathering reliable information about what is happening in the northern Gaza Strip, according to what was reported by the Haaretz website today, Monday.

Israeli ministers have expressed their support for the displacement of residents of the northern Gaza Strip under the “generals’ plan” drawn up by retired general Giora Eiland, one of the retired generals most consulted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

International fears that Israel is implementing this plan were reinforced by the fact that, in parallel with the Israeli army’s ground incursion into the northern Gaza Strip, especially in the Jabalia area, Israel prevented the entry of humanitarian aid, mainly food and medicine, into this area, which was interpreted in the world as an attempt to starve the population and force them to flee.

The newspaper reported that a number of governments in Western countries have approached Israel in the last two weeks, demanding to know whether Israel is implementing the Eiland Plan, and that the fear is that Israel's goal is to expel the population from the northern Gaza Strip.

"The liaison officers in the Foreign and Security Ministries told us that this is not the plan, but we are having a hard time being convinced when we look at the army's performance in the northern Gaza Strip," one diplomat said.

This is the third time that Israeli forces have entered Jabalia. A Western diplomat said, "When the army entered the first time, we understood that Israel was obliged to act there against Hamas. The second time, we were cautious and said that without a plan for the next day, Israel would have to return there again and again. This time, the reaction is different. We are really afraid that Israel is planning to do something else, very dangerous, and completely contrary to international law."

Israel has allowed humanitarian aid into the northern Gaza Strip following a US warning to halt arms supplies, but the amount Israel agreed to let in was far short of what the population needed. "The amounts that have been brought in are far from what we wanted to see," said a diplomat whose country supplies aid. "It's still below the ceiling. We and other countries continue to insist that much more aid should be brought in."

The international community is increasingly concerned about the absence of international relief organizations in the northern Gaza Strip, and the inability of international media to provide information about what is happening in this area, "which increases speculation about what Israel wants to implement there," according to a Western diplomat.

Last week, the newspaper quoted sources in the Israeli security apparatus as saying that "the government is pushing for a creeping annexation of large parts of the Strip." Israeli officers in the Strip said that their impression is that "the goal of the military operation in the northern Gaza Strip is to pressure the population to move south, according to the plan put forward by Eiland," the newspaper quoted them as saying today.