New York; The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has condemned Israel’s proposal to confine Gaza’s entire population within a sealed, military-run “humanitarian city,” calling it “inhumane” and warning it amounts to mass forced displacement.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz unveiled the plan on Monday. It envisions building a walled compound on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza, initially to hold 600,000 Palestinians displaced by the ongoing war, and ultimately to house the enclave’s full population of over 2 million people.
Under the scheme, residents would be tightly screened to prevent Hamas members from entering and barred from leaving. Katz said that later, the residents might be permitted to “voluntarily emigrate” to other countries. He claimed the project would grant the Israeli military greater “freedom” to pursue Hamas elsewhere in Gaza.
Katz also suggested that while the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would control the area at first, international organizations might eventually oversee it, though he did not name any specific agencies.
According to Haaretz, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has endorsed the plan. The report quoted Netanyahu as brushing aside concerns over the residents’ welfare, allegedly remarking: “Give them Ben & Jerry’s, for all I care.”
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, UNRWA’s communications director Tamara Alrifai strongly rebuked the proposal. “There is nothing humanitarian about confining hundreds of thousands of people behind fences and checkpoints under military surveillance,” she said. “Labeling it a ‘humanitarian city’ is an insult to the very notion of humanity.”
