Critics slam Israeli proposal to relocate Gazans to 'humanitarian city'

An Israeli proposal to relocate Gazans to a so-called “humanitarian city” has sparked outrage, with opponents describing it as an expensive diversion at best and, at worst, a dangerous step towards pushing Palestinians off their land.

Last Monday, Defence Minister Israel Katz presented the idea during a press meeting. It anticipates creating a restricted zone in southern Gaza from scratch during a prospective 60-day cease-fire in Israel’s war with Hamas, which is presently being negotiated in Qatar.

According to Katz, the territory would initially shelter about 600,000 displaced persons from southern Gaza and feature four humanitarian distribution facilities administered by foreign agencies.

The entire civilian population of Gaza, more than two million people, would eventually be moved there.

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Critics have questioned the plan’s viability and ethics, with Israel’s opposition leader highlighting its exorbitant cost and one expert pointing to a lack of infrastructure in the region required to handle that many people.

The proposed facility has been characterised as a “concentration camp” by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, while the UK’s minister for the Middle East and North Africa is “appalled” by the concept. “Palestinian territory must not be reduced,” said Hamish Falconer on X. “Civilians must be able to return to their communities.”

‘Extremist delusions’

Nearly 21 months of war have devastated much of the Gaza Strip, displacing most of its population, creating dire shortages of food and other essentials, and killing 58,026 people, most of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.

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The October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war led to 1,219 deaths, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures

New arrivals to the proposed facility would undergo security screening to ensure they are not affiliated with Hamas, and once admitted, they would not be permitted to leave.

The Israeli military would provide security “from a distance”, Katz has said.

However, the criticism of the plan reportedly extends even to Israel’s own security establishment.

Local media reported that army chief Eyal Zamir lambasted the proposal at a cabinet meeting, arguing it would divert focus from the military’s two core objectives: defeating Hamas and securing the return of hostages taken on October 7.

The broadcaster Channel 12 reported that unnamed security officials viewed the plan as little more than a “gigantic tent city”, and warned it could pave the way for a return to Israeli military rule in Gaza.

Such a move aligns with the long-standing goals of far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, key coalition partners of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Both Smotrich and Ben Gvir advocate the re-establishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza, from which Israel unilaterally withdrew in 2005, and have repeatedly called for the voluntary expatriation of Palestinians from Gaza.

The projected expense of the initiative – estimated between 10 and 20 billion shekels ($3–6 billion) – has further fuelled domestic outrage as the cost of nearly two years of war mounts.

“That money is not coming back,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said on X on Sunday.

“Netanyahu is letting Smotrich and Ben Gvir run wild with extremist delusions just to preserve his coalition. Instead of plundering the middle class’s money, end the war and bring back the hostages.”

‘Fantasies’

The Palestinian Authority was scathing in appraisal of the proposed facility, with its foreign ministry saying: “The humanitarian city has nothing to do with humanity.”

That view was echoed by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which said the “plan would de-facto create massive concentration camps at the border with Egypt”.

A Palestinian official with knowledge of the ongoing ceasefire talks in Qatar told AFP that Hamas rejected plans to concentrate Palestinians in a small part of the south, viewing it as “preparation for forcibly displacing them to Egypt or other countries”.

Amnesty International, which has accused Israel of genocide, warned that relocating Gazans within the territory or “deporting them outside against their will would amount to the war crime of unlawful transfer”.

On Friday, 16 Israeli scholars of international law sent a letter to Katz and Zamir also warning the scheme could amount to a war crime.

Michael Milshtein, an Israeli former military intelligence officer, called the plan one of many “fantasies” floated by Israel’s leadership amid mounting public frustration with the war’s trajectory and lack of a political solution.

He also noted there was no existing infrastructure in the proposed zone, raising questions about provision of electricity and water.

“There is only sand and fields, nothing,” said Milshtein, who heads the Palestinian studies programme at Tel Aviv University.

“Nobody tells the Israeli public what is the price and what are the consequences of reoccupying Gaza, from the economic, political and security points of view,” he told AFP.

“I really think that if people understand that the purpose of the war is the reoccupation of Gaza, there is going to be a lot of social unrest in Israel.”