Israeli ground forces are nearing a “complete evacuation” of the northern Gaza Strip and residents will not be allowed to return home, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, in what appears to be Israel's first official confirmation that it is systematically removing Palestinians from the area.

In a media briefing on Tuesday evening, IDF Brigadier General Itzik Cohen told Israeli reporters that there is “no intention to allow residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return” as troops were twice forced to enter some areas, such as Jabaliya camp to their homes.”

He added that humanitarian aid was allowed to “regularly” go to the south of the territory, but not to the north because “there are no civilians left there.”

International humanitarian law experts have said such actions amount to the war crimes of forced displacement and the use of food as a weapon.

On Thursday, an IDF spokesman said Brigadier General Cohen's comments during a discussion about Jabaliya were taken out of context and “did not reflect the IDF's goals and values.” The spokesman also said the briefing was background information and the brigadier general should not have been quoted in the Hebrew media reports that emerged.

The Israeli army and government have repeatedly denied trying to force the remaining population of the northern Gaza Strip to flee to the relative safety of the south during a month-long renewed offensive and tightened siege. Residents in the north who are still holding on said the new operation had created the worst wartime conditions yet. Israel said the move was necessary to combat newly formed Hamas cells.

Human rights groups and aid organizations have claimed that despite the denials, Israel appears to be implementing a version of the so-called “generals' plan,” which involves giving civilians a deadline to leave and then treating anyone who stays behind as combatants.

It is unclear how many people are still in the northern Gaza Strip; Last month, the United Nations estimated that about 400,000 civilians were unable or unwilling to obey Israeli evacuation orders. On Wednesday, footage on social media showed waves of several dozen displaced people walking south from Gaza City with children and backpacks through flattened areas.

Many had not eaten for days, Huda Abu Laila told the Associated Press. “We came barefoot. We have no sandals, no clothes, nothing. We don't have any money. There is no food or drink,” she said.

An Israeli airstrike on the northern city of Beit Lahiya killed at least 15 people on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported. However, due to communication difficulties, there was no official report from Gaza's Ministry of Health on the attack. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of the stricken Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, released a video of patients escaping from the top floors of the building as it was hit by artillery fire.

Israel divided the area in two earlier this year, creating the so-called Netzarim Corridor, separating the once densely populated Gaza City from the rest of the strip. In Tuesday's press conference, Cohen also confirmed that the northern Gaza Strip has now been divided again, separating Gaza City from the more rural north.

The relocation or permanent reoccupation of the Gaza Strip is not official Israeli policy, but senior Israeli defense officials recently told the Israeli daily Haaretz that with no other alternatives on the table, the government intends to annex large parts of the territory.

Israel's new war with the powerful Shiite Lebanese group Hezbollah, now in its second month, shows no signs of slowing down or ending. At least 30 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Barja, near Beirut, on Tuesday evening, and rescue work continued until Wednesday. According to Mahmoud Seif al-Dine, a local municipality official, many of those killed were women and children.

“This was a civilian building in a residential area, there was no evidence that it had anything to do with Hezbollah or weapons. We don't know why they struck, we saw women, children and civilians killed,” said Seif al-Dine.

Tuesday's attack was the second hit in Barja, a Sunni town home to about 27,000 people displaced by Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon last year. The attack has made residents afraid to take in displaced people, said Barja Mayor Hassan Saad.

Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets into Tel Aviv and other areas of central Israel on Wednesday afternoon, with at least one rocket hitting the Ben-Gurion parking lot without causing any injuries. Videos from the scene showed a car being impaled by the remnants of a Hezbollah rocket.

Hezbollah's new secretary general, Naim Qassem, said in a speech on Wednesday that the group had “tens of thousands” of fighters ready and that nowhere in Israel was “deaf” to its attacks. He added that Hezbollah was now in a “state of defense” in southern Lebanon, suggesting that Hezbollah fighters were dug in in their positions and that the group was prepared for a war of attrition against Israel.

“We believe that only one thing can stop this war of aggression: the battlefield – both on the border and inside Israel,” Qassem said. The group has said it is open to a ceasefire, but it comes with its own conditions for ending the fighting.