The Israeli forces, which control large areas of the Gaza Strip, have recently taken field measures to pave the way for implementing the 'Peace Council' plan, which is based on transferring Palestinians unaffiliated with the Hamas movement to humanitarian areas in the devastated Rafah, which has been under full Israeli control for about two years.

Iron gates

Residents of Mawasi south of Khan Younis and north of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, were surprised on Friday morning by the installation of a gate by Israeli forces on the coastal Al-Rashid road, in the 'High Class' area of Mawasi Rafah, amid a deployment of vehicles in the area, and opening fire on anyone approaching the vicinity of the gate.

Palestinians mourn a killed person who fell in an Israeli attack in Gaza City on Thursday (Reuters)

According to a field source who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat, this is the second gate that Israeli occupation forces have installed in the Mawasi Rafah area, after placing another a few days ago in the Al-Shakoush area.

The source explained that these two gates lead to areas west of Rafah, specifically the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood and surrounding areas, noting that Israeli forces recently dug a trench in the Mawasi Rafah area, apparently aimed at preventing Palestinians from approaching those forces if they are actually transferred to the area under discussion for living.

The source did not rule out that these gates might later be used to search Palestinians and verify their identities when they move to the area under discussion.

Tel al-Sultan

According to reports in Israeli and foreign media, the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood is the first area that will be used to establish a project described as the 'humanitarian zone', where attempts will be made to encourage residents of the Strip to live after preparing it to receive residents within a plan set by the 'Peace Council' to advance US President Donald Trump's plan in its second phase, which indicates moving forward with implementing the plan even if Hamas refuses to disarm.

A Palestinian inspects a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip on Thursday (AP)

It is difficult for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to know the extent of the preparations taking place in that area, especially since Rafah city is under full Israeli control.

According to a report published by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation weeks ago, Israel, at the request of the United States, has begun removing rubble from Rafah, specifically the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, with the aim of starting to establish a pilot area there to bring Palestinians to it, indicating that elements of the international stabilization force will be deployed in that area without firearms to maintain security, while months ago there was talk about the possibility of deploying armed militia elements to maintain security in that area.

Massive destruction

Three Palestinian field sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that some of the previous landmarks, showing the presence of large rubble and destruction in Rafah and Khan Younis, have actually begun to disappear due to removal operations and the transfer of rubble into Israel, it seems.

Doreen Carrady, director of Taylor Carrady, a company specialized in rubble removal, revealed that the huge amount of rubble in the Gaza Strip after more than two and a half years of war is estimated at about 40 million tons, requiring about $2.5 billion, and its removal would need about 10 years, as reported by the Hebrew newspaper Maariv.

Pilot plan

It seems that the file of rebuilding the Gaza Strip is facing major obstacles in light of the failure to reach a permanent ceasefire agreement and move forward with the second phase of the plan. According to The Guardian, the 'Peace Council' reconstruction plan has regressed from a comprehensive project to rebuild the entire Strip to a limited pilot program in its south.

The newspaper said that the plan, which initially aimed to rebuild Gaza and revive its infrastructure, has turned into a small project represented by establishing a temporary camp near Rafah city, accommodating only tens of thousands out of more than two million Palestinians displaced by the war, to be run by a Palestinian administration affiliated with the Gaza Management Committee, and guarded by a limited international security force. It pointed out that the project is not expected to see the light before the end of this year, and although some preparatory steps have been taken, field work has not yet begun.

The project also faces significant financial challenges; only a limited part of the $17 billion previously pledged for Trump's broader plan has arrived, while those running the project seek to use part of the Palestinian tax funds held by Israel to finance it, which sparked the rejection of the Palestinian Authority, which stressed that these funds are a Palestinian right and cannot be used as a bargaining chip.

In the middle of this month, the third meeting was held between the Joint Coordination Office of the Palestinian Authority and the 'Peace Council' on the sidelines of the International Donors Conference in Brussels, which discussed the early recovery plan in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the meeting witnessed the announcement of the 'Gaza Team' initiative, with the participation of more than 12 donor countries, along with the European Investment Bank and the World Bank, aiming to mobilize about $1 billion to support the recovery program in the Strip.

Smoke from an Israeli airstrike on the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip on Wednesday (AP)

Unrelenting escalation

This comes amid an ongoing Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip; on Friday dawn, Muhammad Obeid, a field commander in the Gaza Brigade of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, was assassinated in an airstrike on a residential apartment. Meanwhile, a woman was killed at noon by a drone-dropped bomb in Beit Lahia, and another by gunfire south of Khan Younis, and two young men were killed in two separate airstrikes on the Nuseirat camp in central Strip, while the body of a sixth young man was recovered from the yellow zone in Khan Younis, and at least 6 Palestinians were wounded in similar strikes in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, and Zawayda town.

Several areas were subjected to artillery shelling and demolition on both sides of the Yellow Line, while Israeli vehicles crossed the Yellow Line near the main Salah al-Din road in Qarara town north of Khan Younis. Meanwhile, small Israeli drones asked residents of the Qastal area east of Deir al-Balah to completely evacuate and head west of Deir al-Balah, apparently in preparation for expanding the Yellow Line in that area.

On Thursday, 5 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes, two of which targeted leaders of the Al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza and Khan Younis, including Anas Hamdan, whom the Israeli army said on Friday was the right-hand man before and during the war of Mohammed Deif and Rafa Salama, and was responsible for holding Israeli captives and participated in handover operations.