Israel's plan to evacuate Gaza border towns during next war with Hamas

Israeli towns located up to seven kilometers from the border of the Gaza Strip will be evacuated according to predetermined, mapped locations which will make room for the proper defense management without harming citizens, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Ten months after Operation Protective Edge, the Israel army, the National Emergency Authority and the local authorities in the South are in the final stages of formulating a plan to evacuate the residents of the South in the event of another Gaza conflict.

The program, entitled "safe distance," will provide an evacuation plan for all communities within a seven-kilometer radius of the Gaza Strip.

Each community will be informed of its evacuation plan and in that way residents will know where to go and who will be hosting them before there is a need to evacuate. The distribution of evacuation maps is already under way. The military will be the one with the authority to determine when it is time to evacuate.

The purpose of the program is to prevent misunderstandings about the beginning of the evacuation and the methods of evacuation of the border settlements. The program will provide buses to those wishing to leave to the North, the South or tent housing in the Southern region and provide some space for security forces while avoiding causalities on the home front.

The army will be responsible for the actual evacuation of residents to safety and to protect the communities during the battle. The goal is to prevent the looting of houses and to report in real time to the residents whose houses are damaged by shelling. Local authorities will be responsible to keep track of the residents and of whom to contact if the need arises.