Netanyahu’s ‘Humanitarian City’ Plan Faces Military Opposition, Criticism

July 14, 2025 News
Displaced Palestinians in Gaza. (Photo: via social media, QNN)

Israel’s controversial plan has triggered global outrage, with the UN and rights groups decrying it as inhumane and amounting to the forced transfer of Palestinians.

An Israeli plan to build what the government calls a “humanitarian city” for Palestinians in southern Gaza fell through amid opposition from the military, Israeli media reported on Monday, according to the Anadolu news agency.

Unveiled by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz last week, the plan involves Gaza’s entire population being forced into a new zone on the ruins of Rafah city. Once inside, residents would reportedly not be allowed to leave.

Inhumane, ‘Second Nakba’ – UNRWA Slams Israel’s ‘Humanitarian City’ Plan

The controversial plan has triggered global outrage, with the UN and rights groups decrying it as inhumane and amounting to the forced transfer of the Palestinian population.

Israeli opposition leaders have also denounced the plan, which is estimated to cost $4 billion, over its high budget, saying the proposal would amount to interning Palestinians in a “concentration camp,” Anadolu reported.

The Israeli military also objected to the plan as it would harm ongoing efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Palestinians, the report added.

‘Faster Alternative’

It further stated that, according to Israeli Channel 12, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a tense Cabinet meeting on Sunday night during which he “threw out” the plan.

“I asked for a realistic plan,” Netanyahu reportedly told Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, calling for preparing a “cheaper and faster alternative” by Tuesday.

During the meeting, Zamir clashed with Netanyahu and his far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over the plan, warning that the proposal could harm the army’s main objectives in Gaza, the report noted.

The Israeli army reportedly argues that building the proposed city to concentrate the Palestinians inside would take several months, and possibly up to a year to build.

The army is also worried that the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas would interpret the plan as an Israeli decision to pursue a partial deal and resume the war after any ceasefire, the report added.

Lapid Questions Cost

Opposition leader Yair Lapid on Monday also criticized the plan, questioning whether “residents will be allowed to leave” and how it will be guarded.

Stop Israel’s Dystopian “Humanitarian City” Plan—Before It’s Too Late

“Will its residents be allowed to leave? If not, how will they be prevented from leaving? Will there be a fence? A regular fence? An electric fence? How many soldiers will guard it?” Lapid said at a faction meeting, according to the Times of Israel. He also questioned what soldiers will do “if children want to leave the city?” as well as who will feed them, and who will be responsible for water and electricity.

He added, “Most relevant for Israeli citizens: How much will this cost us?”

‘Ethnic Cleansing’

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the Guardian on Sunday said the zone would be a concentration camp, with the proposal amounting to “ethnic cleansing.”


“It is a concentration camp. I am sorry,” Olmert said. “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.”

He did not consider Israel’s current military campaign was ethnic cleansing because, the report noted, “evacuating civilians to protect them from fighting was legal under international law, and Palestinians had returned to areas where military operations had finished.”

‘Second Nakba’

Last week, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini also denounced the proposal, calling it a “second Nakba.”

Israel’s Transfer Plan a ‘Deliberate Effort to Depopulate’ Gaza – Report

“This would de-facto create massive concentration camps at the border with Egypt for the Palestinians, displaced over and over across generations,” Lazzarini stated on X.

He added that it “would also deprive Palestinians of any prospects for a better future in their homeland.”

Staggering Death Toll

Since Israel’s reneging on the ceasefire on March 18, it has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip through a bloody and ongoing aerial bombardment.

On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 57,000, wounding more than 137,000, with over 14,000 still missing.

Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.

Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.

The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.

(Anadolu, PC)

Related Articles

4 Comments

  1. Netanyahu, This lunatic is a war criminal and should be brought to justice at once.

  2. Deplorable at the degree of total immoral injustice by a nation of people who most certainly should have known better. Does this mean that the “holocaust” does not mean anything to them? That they are so degraded that they have no thought about treating people with anything but murder and genocide? They should have learnt hard , from history.

  3. That word, ” humanitarian ” , is a misnomer: although, the word Aryan makes for a convenient pun…it’s apropos that the Israeli Nazis would use it for its double connotation. This is Orwellian Double Speak. The world will finally be a better place when every last one of them is gone.

Comments are closed.