Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly “threw out” the plan to establish a humanitarian city in southern Gaza and asked the IDF to propose alternative plans during a tense cabinet meeting on Sunday night, Israeli media reported on Monday.
The meeting was convened amid reported opposition from the IDF to the humanitarian city plan proposed by Defense Minister Israel Katz.
The military has reportedly objected to the plan, not only due to the significant budget but also because building such a city would harm efforts to free the remaining hostages.
The defense establishment, according to N12, believes that Hamas would interpret the humanitarian city plan as an Israeli decision to pursue a partial deal and resume the war after a ceasefire.
Building humanitarian city could take up to a year, military estimates
The IDF also presented the timeline for establishing the humanitarian city, where Israel would move 600,000 Palestinians, which is estimated to take several months and possibly up to a year to build.
However, according to reports, Netanyahu told IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, “I asked for a realistic plan!”
Netanyahu reportedly told military officials to seek alternative plans that would be faster and cheaper, by tomorrow.
Ben-Gvir calls the debate surrounding humanitarian city 'spin'
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized the debate surrounding the establishment of the humanitarian city as “spin” that is “aimed at concealing the deal that is being cooked up” in a post to X/Twitter.
“This humanitarian city will certainly not be built as part of the surrender deal being crafted with Hamas, in which the IDF will retreat from terror territories that were captured at the cost of our soldiers’ blood, hundreds of murderous terrorists will be released, and Hamas will receive oxygen and more time to rebuild its capabilities. Spins are no substitute for a decisive victory,” Ben-Gvir posted.
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert called Katz’s “humanitarian city” plan in Gaza a “concentration camp” in an interview with The Guardian on Sunday.
“It is a concentration camp. I am sorry,” he said.
Katz recently said that the Defense Ministry would build a new humanitarian city in the Rafah area for at least 600,000 Palestinians.
Anyone who entered would have limitations on their ability to go in and out of the area and would only be allowed to enter after being carefully checked for possessing weapons.
Olmert said that Israel was already committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, telling The Guardian that constructing the humanitarian city would “mark an escalation.”
“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,” the former prime minister said.
Olmert told The Guardian that he did not consider Israel’s current campaign in Gaza to be ethnic cleansing because evacuating civilians to protect them from fighting was legal under international law, and Palestinians returned to areas where operations were concluded.
He called government claims that the humanitarian city aimed to protect Palestinian civilians “not credible.”
Olmert criticizes cabinet ministers supporting expansion of West Bank settlements
Additionally, Olmert called the killing of two Palestinian men, including an American citizen, by Israeli settlers “war crimes.”
“Unforgivable. Unacceptable. There are continuous operations organized, orchestrated in the most brutal, criminal manner by a large group.”
Olmert described cabinet ministers who support the further expansion of settlements in Gaza and the West Bank as “the enemies from within.”
The former prime minister said that he supported the initial campaign against Hamas after the October 7 massacre, but criticized the government for abandoning negotiations for a ceasefire “publicly and in a brutal manner.”