That's what Defense Minister Israel Katz says at a press conference on Monday, reports the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Katz states that he has instructed the military to plan the establishment of what he describes as a "humanitarian city" at the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza. The idea is to initially move 600,000 Palestinians to the new zone after checks that will ensure that none of them belong to Hamas.
In the long term, the entire civilian population of Gaza will be concentrated in the zone, according to the plan.
The Defense Minister's hope is that the "city" will start being built during the 60-day ceasefire that is currently being negotiated in Qatar. The plan is for the Israeli military to monitor the zone from a distance, but for external actors to manage the area and distribute supplies.
Israel Katz simultaneously repeats his ambition to get Palestinians to "voluntarily emigrate" from the Gaza Strip to other countries.
It has previously been reported on Israeli plans to forcibly relocate Gaza's population to a smaller zone. This led the human rights organization Human Rights Watch to warn in May of a potential escalation of Israel's "ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and genocide".
"Us or them"
Fears have also been raised that Israel plans to establish settlements in the areas of Gaza from which Palestinians are forcibly relocated, writes Times of Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied it, but his government is dependent on far-right coalition partners who are pushing for it to become a reality.
Knesset member Limor Son Har-Melech, who represents the ultra-nationalist party Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit), repeated the demand on Monday.
It's either us or them there, no other alternative exists. I'm no longer talking about isolated enclaves surrounded by the enemy. I'm talking about big cities, she says in a radio interview according to Haaretz.
The Gaza war began with Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, when over 1,200 people were killed and the extremist movement took hostages. Since then, Israel has killed over 57,000 Gaza residents, according to the area's health authorities.
