The "humanitarian city" that Israel's defense minister wants to build in the ruins of Rafah would in practice constitute a concentration camp – and forcing Palestinians into the city would mean ethnic cleansing, says Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister 2006–2009.
It is a concentration camp. I'm sorry, he says in an interview with The Guardian.
According to Olmert, Israel is already committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip and on the occupied West Bank, and the camp in Gaza would mean an escalation of these.
Separate civilians from Hamas
Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the country's military last week to begin developing "operational plans" for the city in southern Gaza. According to an Al Jazeera analysis of satellite images, Israel has in recent months significantly stepped up the demolition of Rafah.
According to Katz, the city will initially house around 600,000 Gazans, but the long-term plan is to force in all of Gaza's approximately two million inhabitants.
First, they will be carefully checked to ensure that Hamas members are not among them. Then, the Palestinians in the city will only be allowed to leave if they intend to go to other countries, according to Katz.
Too expensive?
The plan has been met with sharp criticism from a number of UN agencies, international organizations, and legal experts.
"This forced displacement constitutes a war crime, unless it can be justified by concern for the well-being of the population or by compelling military reasons," said Pål Wrange, professor of international law at Stockholm University, in a written comment to TT last week.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, however, expressed his support. According to sources to Haaretz Netanyahu and several other ministers are said to have criticized the plan at a meeting in the security cabinet on Sunday – due to the project being too expensive.
