GAZA, July 29, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israel is mulling a three-layer-deep barrier of fences and walls to ring the Gaza Strip after its military pullout, as plans were drawn up by the occupation army for a massive ground offensive in the impoverished area ahead of next month's pullout.

The Israeli Army is planning to add two new 60 km (37 miles) fences parallel to the border fence surrounding the Gaza Strip as well as putting up seven-meter (23-foot)-high concrete walls in several places, a senior Israeli official was quoted as saying by Reuters Friday, July 29.

One of the two new fences, made of metal and razor wire, is being installed a few dozen meters (yards) closer to the Gaza boundary line than the existing electronic fence, the official said.

The other, embedded with sensors and equipped with surveillance cameras, watchtowers and remote-control machinegun emplacements, will lie 70 to 150 meters east of the existing border fence on the Israeli side, he said.

A one-km (half-mile)-long wall will also be erected on Israel's border with north Gaza and two smaller walls will be built where Israeli towns are vulnerable to Palestinian gunfire, the official maintained.

The Israeli official put at $220 million the cost of the new fencing project.

The Jerusalem Post reported June 17, that Israel is building an underwater barrier to seal of Gaza Strip before its military pullout from the area.

Many Palestinians have expressed concern that the impoverished Gaza Strip would become a giant prison unless Israel agrees to a "safe passage" into the West Bank as well for a new harbor and the reopening of Gaza airport.

"Instead of building bridges with the Palestinians, Israel insists on building walls and fences of suffocation," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Following talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Saturday, July 23, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington wants a freedom of movement in the Strip following the Israeli pullout.

Israel is already under intense international criticism due to the separation barrier it is building in the West Bank, which will eventually extend 600 kilometers, cutting into the occupied territories and disrupting the lives of the Palestinians.

Israel claims that the West Bank barrier is for security reasons, but the Palestinians believe it is aimed at grabbing more of the land they need for their future state.

Mofaz is concerned a lengthy stay of the Israeli army in the two "security zones" in Gaza would cause a great deal of friction.

In a related development, the Israeli army put forward plans to launch a massive ground offensive in the Gaza Strip ahead of the next month's military pullout from the area.

The army plans foresee three full brigades reoccupying two swathes of territory around the towns of Bait Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip and Khan Yunus in the south, according to Israeli daily Ha'aretz Friday.

Both zones would be five to seven kilometers wide, the daily added.

An Israeli military source, however, declined to confirm or deny the report of the ground offensive.

"The army does not publish its operational plans and, when it has proposals to make, it does so behind closed doors," the source told Agence France Presse (AFP).

The proposed plans, however, were not yet approved by Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.

Mofaz is concerned that a lengthy stay of the Israeli army in the two "security zones" would cause a great deal of friction with the Palestinian residents in the areas and cause the Palestinian Authority's remaining hold on Gaza to collapse.