Former Israeli PM Admits “Humanitarian City” in Gaza’s Rafah Would Be “Concentration Camp”

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the so-called “humanitarian city” the Israeli occupation government announced it wants to build on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza would in fact be a “concentration camp.”

“It is a concentration camp. I am sorry,” Olmert told the Guardian.

Israel was already committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, Olmer said, and construction of the camp would mark an escalation.

“If they [Palestinians] will be deported into the new ‘humanitarian city’, then you can say that this is part of an ethnic cleansing. It hasn’t yet happened,” Olmert added.

Olmert said that after months of violent rhetoric, including calls from ministers to “cleanse” Gaza and projects to build Israeli settlements there, the Israeli occupation government claims that the “humanitarian city” aimed to protect Palestinians were not credible.

“When they build a camp where they [plan to] ‘clean’ more than half of Gaza, then the inevitable understanding of the strategy of this [is that] it is not to save [Palestinians]. It is to deport them, to push them and to throw them away. There is no other understanding that I have at least,” he added.

Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced an Israeli plan to forcibly concentrate Palestinians into a so-called “humanitarian city” built over the ruins of Rafah. “Our goal is to push them toward emigration,” he noted.

Katz said the Israeli army is preparing to transfer initially around 600,000 Palestinians from the al-Mawasi area into the new encampment and eventually the entire Palestinian population. Entry into the area will be permitted only after security checks, and residents will not be allowed to leave. “Our goal is to push them toward emigration,” Katz said bluntly.

He described this as Phase One of a broader Israeli strategy to control Gaza’s population after the war. He said the city would be secured remotely by Israeli forces, but Israel would not distribute food or directly manage the area. Instead, Katz said Israel hopes to bring in international actors to oversee the population.

Katz confirmed Israel’s long-term goal: to facilitate the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza. He said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is already in talks to find third countries willing to accept them. “The migration plan must be implemented,” Katz declared.

Israeli human rights lawyers and scholars have described the plan as a blueprint for crimes against humanity and some have warned that if implemented, “under certain conditions it could amount to the crime of genocide”.