Ardi Imseis, assistant professor of law at Queen’s University, told Al Jazeera that Israel’s actions since October underscore its long-term strategy for the Palestinian people.

“Since 1948, the policy vis a vis the Palestinians has been of displacement and replacement. For the past three-and-a-half months we’ve seen on our TV screens the displacement aspect of the policy being rolled out – 1.7 million Palestinians being forcibly transferred to the south of the Gaza Strip, bombarded indiscriminately, starvation used as a tool of warfare, with open calls by members of government to ethnically cleanse them into Egypt.

“They want to replace these people and take their land,” Imseis told Al Jazeera.