Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the Israel Defense Forces to draw up plans to move Palestinians in Gaza into a closed “humanitarian city” in the south of the strip, from where he hoped they would eventually opt to depart to resettle in other countries. File Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he has instructed the Israel Defense Forces to draw up plans to move all Palestinians in Gaza into a closed “humanitarian city” in the south of the strip, from where he hoped they would emigrate, voluntarily.
The camp, constructed over the ruins of Rafah and run by unnamed international organizations, would initially house around 600,000 security-screened people but eventually become home for all 2 million residents of Gaza, Katz told a news briefing on Monday.
Katz said the camp’s first residents would be from the nearby Mawasi area where large numbers of Palestinians displaced from other parts of Gaza have been living in makeshift tent cities or in the open.
He said that once people entered the camp they would not be allowed to exit back into Gaza and that his longstanding aspiration to encourage Palestinians to “voluntarily emigrate” to other countries should be realized.
The Times of Israel said it was likely that the only organization that would be willing to get involved with the scheme was the embattled U.S.-Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, currently under intense scrutiny over hundreds of deaths alleged to have occurred in and around its food distribution hubs in Gaza.
International human rights lawyers and academics said Katz’ plan was illegal under international law and a “blueprint for crimes against humanity.”
“Katz laid out an operational plan for a crime against humanity. It is nothing less than that. It is all about population transfer to the southern tip of the Gaza Strip in preparation for deportation outside the strip,” Michael Sfard told The Guardian.
“While the government still calls the deportation ‘voluntary’, people in Gaza are under so many coercive measures that no departure from the strip can be seen in legal terms as consensual.
“When you drive someone out of their homeland, that would be a war crime, in the context of a war. If it’s done on a massive scale like he plans, it becomes a crime against humanity,” Sfard explained.
Amos Goldberg, historian of the Holocaust at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said Katz’ plan amounted to displacing people from all across Gaza into “a concentration camp or a transit camp for Palestinians before they expel them.”
“It is neither humanitarian nor a city. A city is a place where you have possibilities of work, of earning money, of making connections and freedom of movement. There are hospitals, schools, universities and offices. This is not what they have in mind. It will not be a livable place, just as the ‘safe areas’ are unlivable now.”
Goldberg also questioned what would happen in the event that Palestinians declined to move to the camp or mounted a determined resistance.
There were also concerns that Katz’ plan creates a vacuum that would make possible Israeli settlement of the strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently stated that he is not in favor of allowing in settlers, but his government is propped up by far-right ministers in his cabinet who are pushing for exactly that.
In February, Katz unveiled plans to allow Gaza residents the right to resettle in any country that will accept them, following on from U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal for the United States to take control of Gaza, relocate Palestinians to neighboring countries and redevelop the strip into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Katz’ proposal came soon after Netanyahu arrived in Washington for talks with Trump. Over dinner in the White House, the pair said they were hopeful of success in the current round of negotiations with Hamas for a cease-fire in return for the release of hostages still being held in Gaza.
Trump has proposed a 60-day halt in hostilities in exchange for the return of 10 live Israeli hostages and the remains of 18 others who are deceased.
Hamas has countered with amendments that seek U.S. guarantees of no resumption of military action at the end of the 60-day cease-fire and responsibility for humanitarian assistance operations to be returned to the United Nations and international aid NGOs.
