Military reportedly tells ministers plan for large civilian zone may harm hostage talks, take months to build; opposition chief and international officials also castigate proposal. A proposed plan to establish a “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza, in which at least 600,000 Palestinians would be confined, continued to receive backlash from within Israel and abroad on Sunday, with some, including former prime minister Ehud Olmert, alleging that it resembled the Nazi concentration camps built during World War II.
Israeli military leaders had reportedly planned to warn government ministers in a limited security cabinet meeting Sunday night that the ambitious project could take months to implement and imperil ongoing hostage negotiations.
At the meeting, convened at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request, the IDF had been slated to present an outline for the “humanitarian city” centered in Rafah. According to Channel 12, while the military was expected to affirm that it would follow elected officials’ orders, it was also set to sound a note of caution over the plan. Military officials planned to inform the meeting that the project would “take three to five months from the moment we begin construction until the humanitarian city is operational,” the network reported before the meeting took place, without citing sources. (Read More)
