Jerusalem
CNN
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Israeli media reports say the Israeli defense minister told the military to proceed with plans for what is called a “humanitarian city” built on top of the ruins of Rafa in southern Gaza.
In a briefing to reporters Monday, Israel Katz said the zone would initially house around 600,000 displaced people. Palestinians who enter the zone will be screened to ensure they are not members of Hamas.
They would not be allowed to leave, Katz said, according to Israeli media. Ultimately, the Defense Minister said that the entire population of Gaza (more than 2 million Palestinians) will be held in the zone. Katz then vowed to implement the plan that Israel first floated by US President Donald Trump to allow Palestinians to migrate from Gaza to other countries.
Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have been enthusiastically supporters of immigration programs despite not publicly expressing their willingness to participate publicly. During Trump’s White House dinner with Monday, Netanyahu said: “We’re working very closely on finding countries that want to give Palestinians a better future, about finding countries that want to give Palestinians a better future, and I think we’re approaching finding some countries.”
Katz said the zone for evacuated Palestinians would be run by international organisations rather than by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli media reported. The IDF will protect the zone from afar with plans that appear to mimic the aid distribution mechanism of the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF); Katz said. GHF operates distribution sites, while IDFs surround them militarily.
It is unclear what the organization will agree to join Katz’s plan, especially as most international organizations have refused to join the GHF distribution site due to serious concerns about the safety and safety of Palestinians. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to approach distribution sites since they began operations a month ago.
A Katz spokesman has not responded to repeated requests for comments.
IDF spokesman Brig was asked about his plans at a Tuesday evening press conference. General Effy Defflin said the military “shows several options to the political class.”
“All options have that meaning. We act according to the commands of political Echelon,” added Deflin.
On Tuesday, UK Foreign Secretary David Lamy said he was opposed to the new plan, just as Britain opposed the GHF.
“I am amazed at the statements that Katz saw over the past 24 hours,” Ramy told the Congressional Committee. “They contradict the proximity to the ceasefire we thought were heading,” Ramie added that she is not aware of the plan “as a serious context in which the people of Gaza can get the assistance and support they need at this time.”
In a statement Tuesday, Hamas said Israel’s “continuous efforts to force out our people and imposing ethnic cleansing have been filled with legendary resilience.
Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sphard said Katz’s plan amounts to forced demobilization in preparation for deportation. Both of these are war crimes, Sfard told CNN.
“If they were committed across a large community, they could become a war crime,” Sphard said.
“There is no consensus departure, there is no voluntary departure. People will flee Gaza as Israel has forced measures that make life impossible in Gaza,” he said. “Under international law, there is no need to load people into trucks at gunpoint to commit the crime of deportation.”
A senior UAE diplomat said it is considered one of the key countries in the postwar Gaza programmes and that it is unacceptable to take Palestinians from its enclave. “The United Arab Emirates has publicly and decisively refused to displace Palestinians. Our official position and my position is to refuse forced dislocation of Palestinians from their current territory in order to rebuild Gaza,” Rana Nusseybe told CNN.
Qatar, which now hosts proximity talks between Israel and Hamas, has also refused to deport Gaza’s population. “We have said very clearly that we are opposed to forced relocation of Palestinians, or the relocation of Palestinians outside their land,” said Majed Al Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, on Tuesday.
