Israel’s Rafah camp – ‘humanitarian city’ or crime against humanity?

Israel’s Rafah camp – ‘humanitarian city’ or crime against humanity?

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has announced a controversial plan to move up to 600,000 Palestinians in Gaza into a designated “humanitarian area” on the ruins of the southern city of Rafah.

Access to the camp would be through strict security screening to ensure entrants were not Hamas operatives. Once inside, the perimeter would be sealed off by the Israeli military. Palestinians would not be allowed to leave.

Eventually the camp would house the entire 2.1 million population of Gaza.

Camp construction would begin during the proposed 60-day ceasefire being negotiated by Israel and Hamas.

Voluntary exodus?
According to Katz, Gazans would have the option of “voluntary” emigration.

Indeed, speaking at the White House this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be no forced exodus from Gaza:

If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave.

But the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is incomprehensible.

The population has been displaced multiple times and 90% of homes in Gaza are damaged or destroyed. The healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed.

On average 100 Palestinians are killed daily as they try to access food.

These crisis circumstances negate the voluntary nature of any person’s consent to either the transfer to the Rafah camp or ultimately, the departure from Gaza.

According to Amos Goldberg, historian of the Holocaust at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, what the defence minister laid out was clear plans for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza:

[it is] a transit camp for Palestinians before they expel them. It is neither humanitarian nor a city.

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If you don't believe Netanyahu hasn't and still isn't committing crimes against humanity or forced genocide, than I have to wonder what you consider humane. I have nothing against Jews, and agree that Hamas needs to be wiped off the earth. But, what's been happening goes well beyond killing Hamas soldiers. As Trump and Netanyahu wine and dine, praising each other and making development plans for the Gaza strip, it makes me sick to my stomach.

Areas that had been designated as safe humanitarian zones have been attacked. Civilians have been attacked in and around hospitals, while seeking food at distribution centers, and at schools sheltering displaced families. Entire families have been wiped out. People are starving and babies are dying.

At least 94% of all hospitals in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed. Over 95% of schools in Gaza had sustained some degree of damage, with 88.5% requiring full reconstruction or major rehabilitation. All 12 of Gaza's universities and colleges have been destroyed.

‘They’re skin and bones’: doctors in Gaza warn babies at risk of death from lack of formula

Doctors say Israel is blocking deliveries of formula urgently needed as mothers are either dead or too malnourished to feed their babies
Sat 5 Jul 2025 03.11 EDT

The UN warns that nearly half a million people face famine within months, whilst newborn babies are reportedly starving to death due to Israel’s ban on baby formula entering Gaza.

In late June, the director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said about 112 children were being admitted daily to Gaza’s hospitals for malnutrition treatment. Malnutrition before the age of three can cause permanent developmental problems.

Mothers who are severely malnourished themselves or have been killed are unable to breastfeed, creating a higher need for formula. On the parallel market, what little supply exists has become exorbitantly expensive, with one can of formula going for about $50 – 10 times the normal price.

“This whole generation is being targeted. They will suffer from memory problems, developmental delays … And the problem is even if nutrition becomes available later on, the damage is permanent,” al-Faraa said.

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In a May report UN Women’s analysis estimated that more than 28,000 women and girls have been killed in Gaza since the onset of hostilities in October 2023. The report said that since the ceasefire collapsed in March 2025, conditions have deteriorated further in Gaza, compounded by nearly nine weeks of an ongoing blockade on humanitarian aid. The entire population in Gaza is rapidly running out of food and essential supplies with increasing risks of famine. This means every woman and girl, (more than 1 million) is facing catastrophic levels of hunger.

 

Actions speak louder than words. Their actions are inhumane, regardless of what words they use to justify them. Hey, now that we've destroyed most of your schools, all your colleges, and most of your hospitals, you can choose move to a sealed off camp area to keep you and your babies from starving to death.

 

Yeah, it's really hard to know how many have died, or will die. That independent study you mentioned was done in Dec and January, and thousands more have died since then. I wouldn't doubt the numbers are far higher than that report now. Even since May 27 of this year hundreds of Palestinian civilians have been killed and thousands more wounded around aid sites. The horrible part is that all the malnourished children under the age of 3 are at risk of permanent development problems, even if they survive. The psychological effects of suffering and loss will affect everyone for years. It's all so tragic that thousands of innocent people are being killed in a war against Hamas terrorists and taking control of the strip of land that Palestinian civilians live in.