Israel has cleared land in southern Gaza for the construction of a camp for Palestinians, potentially equipped with surveillance and facial recognition technology at its entrance, retired Brig.-Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi told Reuters in an interview.
Avivi is the founder of the influential Israel Defense and Security Forum, a group representing thousands of Israeli military reservists.
He does not speak on behalf of the IDF, which declined to comment. The Prime Minister's Office did not immediately provide comment on any plans to build a camp in Rafah.
According to Avivi, the camp would be built in an area of Rafah cleared of tunnels built by Hamas, with entry and exit tracked by Israeli personnel, and would be used to house Palestinians who wish to leave Gaza and cross into Egypt, as well as those who wish to stay.
His comments come as Israel prepares for a "limited reopening" of the Rafah border crossing, a key requirement under US President Donald Trump's plan to end the Israel-Hamas War.
Sources told Reuters this month that Israel wants to ensure more Palestinians leave Gaza than are allowed in. Israeli officials have spoken in the past about encouraging Gazans to emigrate, though they deny intending to transfer the population out by force, a highly sensitive issue for Palestinians.
"There are no Gazans, almost at all, in Rafah," Avivi said. The area fell under complete Israeli military control following an October Israel-Hamas ceasefire, and most Palestinians fled to areas held by Hamas.
"You need to build infrastructure in Rafah that can host them, and then they can choose if they want to go or not," Avivi said. He said the structure would likely be "a big, organized camp" capable of hosting hundreds of thousands of people and enforcing ID checks, including facial recognition.
The Jerusalem Post reported in July that Defense Minister Israel Katz revealed his ministry's plan to build a new humanitarian area in Rafah that would house at least 600,000 Palestinians and be entirely free of Hamas.
In addition, the implication was that the area would be provided with sufficient food and shelter to live with less day-to-day concern about the ups and downs of such issues during the current war.
More broadly, Katz said at the time that the purpose of this area would be to permanently remove large, and possibly even larger groups in the future, of Palestinian civilians from the control and influence of Hamas.
Officials have not spoken publicly about such plans since then.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, head of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, told Reuters in a statement that the idea amounted to cover for "forced displacement."
Phase II of Trump's Gaza plan
US President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza, now in its second phase, calls for the Strip's reconstruction to start in Rafah and for Hamas to lay down its arms in exchange for further IDF withdrawals from the territory.
Avivi said that the IDF is preparing for a new offensive against Hamas if the terror organization refuses to give up its weapons.
The camp in Gaza could be used to house Palestinians fleeing a renewed Israeli assault, Avivi said.
"Plans are set. The army is ready to get the command from the government, from the cabinet, to renew its maneuvers in Gaza," Avivi said.
Agriculture and Raw Food Security Minister Avi Dichter (Likud) said disputes over Hamas's disarmament could lead Israel back into war in Gaza.
"We have to get prepared for the war in Gaza," Dichter told Reuters, adding that the disarmament issue "will have to be solved by Israeli troops, the hard way."
Disarming Hamas will be done 'the easy way or the hard way'
Hamas has publicly refused to lay down its weapons multiple times. Two Hamas officials told Reuters this week that neither Washington nor the mediators had presented the group with any detailed or concrete disarmament proposal.
According to a document shared by the White House last week, the Trump administration wants to see heavy weapons decommissioned immediately, with "personal arms registered and decommissioned by sector" as the police under an interim technocratic administration in Gaza "become capable of guaranteeing personal security."
Trump has repeatedly warned Hamas that it would have "hell to pay" if it does not lay down its weapons.
A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters on Monday that disarmament could come along with some sort of amnesty for Hamas members.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded during a Tuesday press conference, stating his intention of "dismantling and disarming Hamas, and disarming Gaza."
He cited Trump, saying that the two of them agreed that there are only two options when it comes to the mission of disarming Gaza: "it will be done the easy way or the hard way."
"I'm hearing people saying that we will rebuild Gaza before it is demilitarized. That won't happen," Netanyahu said, discussing the future of the Palestinian population in Gaza.
"I'm also hearing that we will bring Turkish and Qatari soldiers into Gaza. That won't happen. I'm hearing that I will allow the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza. That hasn't happened, and it won't happen."
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.