While diplomatic circles welcome the recovery of the last Israeli captive\u2019s remains in Gaza and the imminent partial reopening of the enclave\u2019s Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a quieter, darker reality is taking shape on the ground.<\/p>\n
According to comments by retired Israeli General Amir Avivi, who still advises the military, Israel has cleared land in Rafah, an area in the southern Gaza Strip that it had already flattened in more than two years of its genocidal war, to construct an enormous facility to entrench its military control and presence in Gaza for the long term.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Reuters news agency on Tuesday, Avivi described the project as a \u201cbig, organised camp\u201d capable of holding hundreds of thousands of people, stating it would be equipped with \u201cID checks, including facial recognition\u201d, to track every Palestinian entering or leaving.<\/p>\n
Corroborating Avivi\u2019s claims, exclusive analysis by Al Jazeera\u2019s Digital Investigations Team confirms that ground preparations for this project are already well under way.<\/p>\n
Satellite imagery captured from December 2 through Monday reveals extensive clearing operations in western Rafah. The analysis identifies an area of about 1.3sq km (half a square mile) that has undergone systematic levelling.<\/p>\n
According to the investigation, the operations went beyond mere debris removal and involved the flattening of land previously devastated by Israeli air strikes.<\/p>\n
The cleared zone is located adjacent to two Israeli military posts, suggesting the new camp will be under direct and immediate military supervision. The satellite evidence aligns with reports that the facility is to act as a controlled \u201cholding pen\u201d rather than a humanitarian shelter.<\/p>\n To analysts in Gaza, no humanitarian intent is behind this projected high-tech infrastructure, which they say is in fact a trap for Palestinians.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat they are building is, in reality, a human-sorting mechanism reminiscent of Nazi-era selection points,\u201d Wissam Afifa, a Gaza-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera. \u201cIt is a tool for racial filtering and a continuation of the genocide by other means.\u201d<\/p>\n The reopening of the Rafah crossing, tentatively scheduled for Thursday, according to The Jerusalem Post, comes with strict Israeli conditions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted on full \u201csecurity control\u201d.<\/p>\n For Palestinians hoping to return to Gaza, this means submitting to what Afifa describes as \u201chuman sorting stations\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis mechanism is designed to deter return,\u201d Afifa said. \u201cPalestinians will face interrogation, humiliation and the risk of arrest at these Israeli-run checkpoints just to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n By leveraging facial recognition technology confirmed by Avivi, Israel is creating a high-risk ordeal for returnees, he said. Afifa argued it will force many Palestinians to choose exile over the risk of the \u201csorting station\u201d, serving Israel\u2019s longstanding goal of depopulating the Strip.<\/p>\n The Rafah camp is just one piece of a larger puzzle. Israel in effect occupies all of Gaza with a physical military presence in 58 percent of the Gaza Strip. Its forces directly occupy an area within the \u201cyellow line\u201d, a self-proclaimed Israeli military buffer zone established by an October ceasefire.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are witnessing the re-engineering of Gaza\u2019s geography and demography,\u201d Afifa said. \u201cAbout 70 percent of the Strip is now under direct Israeli military management.\u201d<\/p>\n This assessment of a permanent foothold is reinforced by Netanyahu\u2019s own remarks to the Knesset on Monday. By declaring that \u201cthe next phase is demilitarisation\u201d, or disarming Hamas, rather than reconstruction, Netanyahu signalled that the military occupation has no end date.<\/p>\n \u201cThe talk of \u2018reconstruction\u2019 starting in Rafah under Israeli security specifications suggests they are building a permanent security infrastructure, not a sovereign Palestinian state,\u201d Afifa added.<\/p>\n For the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza, the hope that the return of the last Israeli captive would bring relief has turned into frustration.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a deep sense of betrayal,\u201d Afifa said. \u201cThe world celebrated the release of one Israeli body as a triumph while two million Palestinians remain hostages in their own land.\u201d<\/p>\n Afifa warned that the international silence regarding these \u201csorting stations\u201d risks normalising them. If the Rafah model succeeds, it would transform Gaza from a besieged territory into a high-tech prison where the simple act of travel becomes a tool of subjugation, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael is behaving as if it is staying forever,\u201d Afifa concluded. \u201cAnd the world is watching the show\u00a0of peace while the prison walls are being reinforced.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While diplomatic circles welcome the recovery of the last Israeli captive\u2019s remains in Gaza and the imminent partial reopening of the enclave\u2019s Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a quieter, darker reality is taking shape on the ground. According to comments by retired Israeli General Amir Avivi, who still advises the military, Israel has cleared land […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Recent](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Area-After-26-01-2026-1769599457.png?w=770&resize=770%2C433&quality=80\")
The trap of return<\/h2>\n
![\"INTERACTIVE](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/INTERACTIVE-Gaza-map-Israels-withdrawal-in-Trumps-20-point-plan-yellow-line-map-1760017243.png?quality=80\")
Permanent occupation within the \u2018yellow line\u2019<\/h2>\n
A \u2018show\u2019 of peace<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"