<\/p>\n
by\u00a0Dave DeCamp<\/a><\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0Jul 7, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the IDF to\u00a0prepare a plan to establish a camp<\/a>\u00a0to concentrate the entire civilian population of Gaza on the ruins of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0Haaretz<\/em>, Katz said that once Palestinian civilians are pushed into what he is calling a \u201chumanitarian city,\u201d they will not be allowed to leave. The idea is to first transfer 600,000 civilians from the al-Mawasi tent camp on the coast in southern Gaza, followed by the rest of the civilian population.<\/p>\n Katz said that if conditions permit, the \u201ccity\u201d could be built during a potential 60-day ceasefire, comments that will make Hamas less likely to agree to a temporary truce. The Israeli defense minister also said that during the ceasefire, Israel will\u00a0maintain control of the \u201cMorag Corridor,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0a strip of land between Rafah and Khan Younis.<\/p>\n Katz also suggested the camp can facilitate the government\u2019s ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing, which it refers to as \u201cvoluntary migration,\u201d telling reporters that Israel will implement \u201cthe emigration plan, which will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has previously said that the goal of Israel\u2019s current military operation, dubbed Gideon\u2019s Chariots, is to create a concentration camp south of the Morag Corridor and pressure the civilians forced into it to leave.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Gazan citizens will be concentrated in the south. They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places,\u201d\u00a0Smotrich said in May.<\/a><\/p>\n Katz\u2019s comments come after\u00a0Reuters<\/em>\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) had proposed to the US government the idea of creating camps it called \u201cHumanitarian Transit Areas\u201d inside Gaza or possibly outside Gaza.<\/p>\n The GHF plan describes the camps as \u201clarge-scale\u201d and \u201cvoluntary\u201d places where the Palestinian population could \u201ctemporarily reside, deradicalize, re-integrate and prepare to relocate if they wish to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n Katz said Israel is seeking \u201cinternational partners\u201d to manage the zone and that four aid distribution sites would be set up inside the camp, suggesting the GHF will be involved in the plan. GHF aid sites are secured by American security contractors, who have been\u00a0credibly accused<\/a> of using live ammunition and stun grenades to disperse crowds of hungry Palestinian civilians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n