As Gaza descends deeper into a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, Israeli authorities are rebranding tools of oppression as relief. From the failed "floating dock" initiative to the newly proposed "isolation zones," efforts to package starvation as humanitarian planning are intensifying. These schemes, built on the exclusion of UN agencies and the introduction of private security firms, offer a chilling glimpse into how genocide is being wrapped in the language of aid.

The proposed mechanism, described in a recent Axios report, promises to “organise” the delivery of food and medicine into Gaza. But Palestinians on the ground know this isn’t about help — it’s about control. This plan replaces neutral aid organisations with firms tied to foreign militaries, turning relief into surveillance and shifting power from international institutions to Israel and its allies.

Dr Salah Abdul-Ati, a Palestinian legal expert, warned that these “humanitarian zones” are no more than open-air detention centres designed to control civilian movement while ensuring starvation persists at “manageable” levels. By removing UNRWA and sidelining the UN entirely, Israel strips Gaza’s population of their last remaining lifeline, while whitewashing war crimes for international audiences.

Analysts believe this strategy is a direct continuation of the abandoned floating dock plan — a public relations move that never delivered aid, only delay. Now, with American private contractors stepping in, the occupation is being privatised and legitimised through the illusion of food delivery.

“This is not aid,” one analyst said. “This is spectacle. They want to film a sack of flour arriving, while hospitals collapse and children die of hunger.”

Under siege for months, Gaza’s 2.3 million people are being starved — not by neglect, but by design. And as international leaders praise logistical “breakthroughs,” Palestinians continue to dig graves for their loved ones. What is happening is not relief. It is a calculated erasure of a people, disguised in the language of diplomacy.