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It's IDF vs Netanyahu over Israel's ‘humanitarian city' plans in Gaza
This aerial view shows tents housing displaced Palestinians set up in the midst of a war-devastated neighbourhood in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on April 2, 2025. (Photo: Bashar Taleb/AFP)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned 'humanitarian city' in the Gaza Strip, according to report.
Earlier this month, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz outlined a plan that has been widely condemned as seeking a concentration camp and laying groundwork for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza.
Katz said that the government had asked the military to prepare a plan to move all Palestinians into a 'humanitarian city' on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza. He said that the settlement would initially house around 600,000 people and would eventually house the entire Gazan population. He said that no one would be ever allowed to leave once they would enter it after screening. He said a person would only leave if they would commit to permanently leaving Gaza.
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In a meeting that involved Netanyahu and Katz, IDF chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir opposed the plan and said it was 'unworkable', according to Hebrew-language Channel 12.
However, Zamir's concerns were not the same as many others outside of the government who slammed the entire scheme as one of ethnic cleansing.
'There are countless problems with this plan'
Zamir said in the meeting that 'there are countless problems with this plan', according to Channel 12.
Zamir said that he was 'not convinced that it actually corresponds with the goals of the war'.
Zamir further said that executing the plan would make Hamas less inclined to accept to a deal for ceasefire in Gaza and release of hostages.
The IDF further warned the government about the costs, saying the plan could cost as much as $4.43 million.
Outside of the Israeli government, critics have said that the so-called humanitarian city would be a concentration camp to house an entire population with no way out. Critics have said that the condition that the only option of getting out would be if you would leave Gaza entirely meant that the entire idea behind the plan was to pressure Palestinians into leaving Gaza by making life impossible in the enclave.
Moreover, critics have also flagged that the plan seeks to put around 2 million people who used to live in the entire enclave in just one settlement. They have said this would make life impossible because of congestion and possibility of disease.
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