The Israeli army has distanced itself from comments by a brigadier general that ground forces are moving closer to “the complete evacuation” of the northern Gaza Strip and that residents will not be allowed to return home.

In a media briefing on Tuesday evening, Israeli Army Brigadier General Itzik Cohen told Israeli reporters that “the intention is not to allow the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return.” He added that humanitarian aid would enter the south of the area “regularly” but that there were “no civilians left” in the north.

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

The IDF did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on Cohen’s comments. But on Thursday, a spokesperson said the comments during a discussion about Jabaliya were taken out of context and did not “reflect the objectives and values ​​of the IDF.”

The spokesman said the briefing took place in the background on Tuesday and that the brigadier general should not have been quoted in Hebrew media reports that emerged.

A statement said the IDF was allowing aid to enter northern Gaza, including Jabaliya. Residents say no aid has arrived in Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya or Beit Hanoun since a new offensive and intensified siege began on October 5.

Israel has repeatedly denied trying to force the remaining population of northern Gaza to flee to the relative safety of the south during the offensive, now in its second month. Israel says this pressure is necessary to combat the regrouped Hamas cells.

Rights groups and aid organizations have claimed that, despite the denials, Israel appears to be implementing a version of the so-called “general’s plan,” which proposes giving civilians a deadline to leave and then treating anyone who remains as a fighter.

It is unclear how many people are still in northern Gaza; Last month, the UN estimated that about 400,000 civilians could not or would not follow Israeli evacuation orders. Social media footage this week showed waves of displaced people carrying children and backpacks walking south through bulldozed areas of Gaza City.

Palestinian medics said on Thursday that Israeli strikes had killed 10 people in northern Gaza and seven in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, in the past 24 hours. The Israeli army said it had killed about 50 militants in the past 24 hours.

Israel bisected the Palestinian territory earlier this year by creating what it calls the Netzarim Corridor, separating what was once the densely populated Gaza City from the rest of the strip.

Permanently reoccupying Gaza is not official Israeli policy, but senior Israeli defense officials recently told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the government planned to annex large parts of the Gaza Strip.