"Israel" plans to lay its hands on 16% of Gaza's territory to establish a “buffer zone," citing an analysis by Adi Ben-Nun, a Hebrew University geography professor.

Construction of the zone has already begun, per the professor, which naturally will involve the demolishing of Palestinian homes and agriculture to make space for the 1-kilometer (0.6 miles) wide zone.

Israeli officials previously refused to comment on how wide the buffer would be, but the former head of Israeli military intelligence, Amos Yadlin, said he expected "Israel" would enforce a "perimeter" of 500 meters to 1km inside Gaza.

Moreover, "Israel" had bombed factories, warehouses, and civilian infrastructure within the potential buffer zone. Some of the buildings had been deliberately mined by Combat Engineering units, in preparation to demolish the residential bloc. 

The surface seems to be for a buffer zone, but the intent may be deeper than that, as many ministers of the occupation have called for building more settlements, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In addition, "Israel" is constructing a road that will cut the Strip in two and while it claims it does not want to occupy Gaza, it claims it wants an open-ended security control of the area which cannot exclude the act of occupation. 

According to Adi Ben-Nun, around 2,850 buildings border the zone, of which 1,100 have been targeted and destroyed as of January 17. 

Under the guise of "protecting civilians," the US claims to be against Israeli advancement and invasion of Rafah and Gaza, yet it continues to transfer weapons to "Israel". 

The 38,819 martyrs in Palestine didn't perish out of thin air. Without weapons from the West, these catastrophic numbers wouldn't have been reached. "Israel" is fueled by greed, while the West supplies it. "Israel" craves occupation, and the West enables it.

Last month, the UN rights director cautioned that the ongoing Israeli destruction of all homes along the Gaza border to create a "buffer zone" is a war crime.

Volker Turk in a statement addressed Israeli officials reminding them of Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which "prohibits destruction by the occupying power of property belonging to private persons, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations."

He observed that Israeli actions do not appear consistent with such exceptions and the "extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure," is in direct breach of the convention which amounts to a war crime.