Israel plans to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to a 'humanitarian city' to be built on the ruins of Rafah

(Patria) - Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to prepare a plan to relocate all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to a camp in the south of the territory, Israeli media report.

Katz told reporters yesterday that he wants to establish a "humanitarian city" on the ruins of the city of Rafah, which would initially accommodate about 600,000 Palestinians, and later the entire population of Gaza of 2.1 million people.

He stated that the goal is to bring people to that area after a security check to ensure they are not members of Hamas, and that they would not be allowed to leave the camp afterwards, reports Index.

As BBC writes, if circumstances allow, Katz added, construction would begin during the 60-day ceasefire that Israel and Hamas are trying to negotiate.

An Israeli human rights lawyer condemned the plan as nothing less than an "operational plan for a crime against humanity."

- This is about moving the population to the southern tip of the Gaza Strip in preparation for deportation outside the area - Michael Sfard told The Guardian.

The United Nations has also previously warned that the deportation or forced transfer of a civilian population from occupied territory is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law and "tantamount to ethnic cleansing."

There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority or Hamas.

Later yesterday, during a meeting at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about US President Donald Trump's proposal for the US to take over the administration of Gaza after the war and permanently relocate its population elsewhere.

- I think President Trump has a brilliant vision. It's called free choice. If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave...

We are working very closely with the US to find countries that will try to achieve what they always say - that they want to provide a better future for Palestinians - Netanyahu stated.



- We have had excellent cooperation with neighbouring countries, with each of them. So, something good will happen - Trump announced.

In March, Arab states supported an Egyptian alternative plan for the reconstruction of Gaza worth $53 billion, which would allow Palestinians to remain in the area.

They also emphasised their "categorical rejection of any form of displacement of the Palestinian people," describing such an idea as "a gross violation of international law, a crime against humanity and ethnic cleansing."

The Palestinian Authority and Hamas also supported the Egyptian plan, but the US and Israel rejected it on the grounds that it does not address the real problems in Gaza.

Palestinians fear a repeat of the Nakba - the Arabic word for "catastrophe" - when hundreds of thousands fled or were expelled from their homes before and during the war that followed the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

Many of those refugees ended up in Gaza, where they and their descendants today make up three-quarters of the population.

Another 900,000 registered refugees live in the occupied West Bank, while 3.4 million others live in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, according to the United Nations.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

Since then, more than 57,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza's residents have also been displaced multiple times. It is estimated that more than 90% of homes have been damaged or destroyed.

Health, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed, and there is a chronic shortage of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.