Israeli media reported that the Israeli Defense Minister said he had directed his military to prepare a plan to move all Palestinians in Gaza to a camp in the southern part of the territory.
Katz, Israel told reporters on Monday that he wanted to build a “humanitarian city” on the ruins of Rafa City, initially housing about 600,000 Palestinians and ultimately the entire population of 2.1 million.
The goal is to bring people indoors after a safety screening to make sure they are not Hamas agents and not allow them to leave, he said.
He added that if conditions are allowed, construction will begin during the 60-day ceasefire that Israel and Hamas are trying to negotiate.
An Israeli human rights lawyer condemned this, nothing more than a “plan of action for crimes against humanity.”
“It’s all about population transfer to the southern end of the Gaza Strip in preparation for deportation outside the strip,” Michael Sfard told The Guardian newspaper.
The United Nations has also previously warned that deportation or forcibly transfer of civilian migrants in occupied areas is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law and “involving ethnic cleansing.”
Palestinian authorities or Hamas did not comment immediately.
At a meeting at the White House late Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal that the United States take over post-war Gaza and permanently resettle it elsewhere.
Netanyahu said: “I think President Trump has an excellent vision. This is called free choice. If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave…
“We work very closely with the United States to look for countries that will try to realize they always say – they want to give the Palestinians a better future.”
“We already have great cooperation from countries around us, and each one has a lot of cooperation. So, some benefits will happen,” Trump said.
In March, the Arab states supported a $53 billion (£39 billion) Egyptian rebuilding plan to replace Trump’s Gaza reconstruction that would allow Palestinians living there to stay where they are.
They also highlighted “any form of rejection of the displacement of the Palestinian people” and described an idea such as “serious violation of international law, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing”.
The Palestinian Authority and Hamas also endorsed the Egyptian plan, but the United States and Israel said they failed to resolve the reality of Gaza.
Palestinians fear that Nakba’s repetition is Arabic in “disaster” – thousands of people fled or were driven out of their homes before and during the war after the creation of the Israeli state in 1948.
Many of these refugees end up in Gaza, where they and their descendants make up three-quarters of the population. According to the United Nations, another 900,000 registered refugees live in the occupied West Bank, while 3.4 million live in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the unprecedented cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, with about 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostages.
More than 57,500 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to data from the Hamas Party Health Ministry in the region.
Most of Gaza’s population has also been displaced several times. It is estimated that over 90% of homes have been damaged or damaged; health care, water, sanitation and sanitation systems have collapsed; and food, fuel, drugs and shelter are in short supply.
