Israeli Defence Ministry presents cheaper, quicker plan for Gaza ‘concentration camp’: Report
The Israeli Ministry of Defense presented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an updated estimate of the cost of establishing the so-called “humanitarian city” for Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli Army Radio has reported.
The latest plan is estimated to cost 4 billion shekels (about $1.2bn) and the construction of the site – which would provide tents, electricity, water, and food – would take about two months, it said.
The report comes amid widespread criticism of the Israeli scheme that would move 600,000 already uprooted Palestinians into a small piece of land in southern Gaza – a scheme that critics say amounts to the establishment of a “concentration camp” and ethnic cleansing.
The first iteration of the idea, floated by Defence Minister Israel Katz earlier this month, was estimated to cost between $2.7bn and $4bn, senior officials told Israeli media.
According to two officials who spoke to Reuters, Netanyahu dismissed the first proposition, saying it was far too costly and complicated, and ordered the military to propose something cheaper and quicker.
Israeli army says it opens new corridor splitting Khan Younis area
The Israeli army has announced the opening of a new corridor in southern Gaza that splits the Khan Younis area.
The Magen Oz Corridor runs between eastern and western Khan Younis, stretching about 15km (9.3 miles), the military said, adding that it would apply pressure on Hamas and help dismantle the group’s brigade operating in what remains of the southern city.
In an illustration published by the Israeli army, the new corridor connects to the Morag Corridor, which was established in April to separate Khan Younis from Rafah.
New Israeli corridor disrupts ceasefire hopes and deepens Palestinian isolation
The newly established Magen Oz Corridor runs straight through the heart of Khan Younis, separating a very large rural area of Khan Younis from the rest of that district. In effect, it cuts off several municipalities where there was agriculture, where people had hoped they would be able to return if there’s a ceasefire to resettle in their homes or what is left of them.
Israeli media report this as a way not just to apply military pressure but also to create new facts on the ground.
In fact, we see reporting from the Israeli Army Radio about this area, which has been ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian population. According to the report, this is an opportunity to clear it of all buildings and to possibly use it as an extension to the concentration zone that Israel has been talking about and planning to erect on the ruins of Rafah to accommodate more Palestinian confined in those areas.
This will complicate ceasefire talks, which are faltering in Doha because of these facts on the ground, because Israel does not want to leave these expanding buffer zones – shrinking the areas where Palestinians can live in Gaza.
