LONDON, July 14. /TASS/. The plan proposed by Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz to build a special "humanitarian city" for 600,000 people in the Gaza Strip to ensure their safety would in reality be a "concentration camp" for Palestinians, Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert, who led the country's government from 2006 to 2009, said in an interview with the Guardian newspaper.

"It is a concentration camp. I am sorry, <...> If they [Palestinians] will be deported into the new 'humanitarian city', then you can say that this is part of an ethnic cleansing," Olmert stated.

Katz previously announced that he had tasked his ministry to begin drafting operational plans for the construction of the "humanitarian city" in southern Gaza, on the ruins of Rafah, destroyed during the conflict. During the first stage, it is planned to house 600,000 Palestinians after thorough screening for any links to the Hamas militant group. Moreover, Palestinians would not be allowed to leave the territory of the "city", which would be managed by international organizations and guarded by the Israeli military. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that this is not his personal plan but rather an initiative of more right-wing coalition partners. However, sources from Haaretz newspaper claim that Katz’s idea is supported by the Prime Minister.

Ehud Olmert, commenting on the Israeli defense minister’s initiative, noted that the rhetoric defending the "humanitarian city" as a way to protect Palestinians from hostilities is not credible. "The inevitable understanding of the strategy of this is that it is not to save Palestinians. It is to deport them, to push them and to throw them away. There is no other understanding that I have, at least," the former PM emphasized.

He also pointed out that Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) current campaign to evacuate Palestinians to the "security zones" in southern Gaza is not ethnic cleansing because evacuation is taking place from areas where active military operations are ongoing. He believes these actions are legal under international humanitarian law, but the creation of a "city" to house Palestinians would cross into the realm of war crimes.

Olmert, a supporter of Israel’s liberal and center-right political forces, was the predecessor of the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who took office in 2009 following the elections. Before becoming Prime Minister, Olmert, as deputy PM, played a key role in the 2005 Israeli troop withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

He has consistently advocated for the separation of Israel and Palestine and for bilateral dialogue. His premiership also coincided with the Second Lebanon War in 2006, which ended with the temporary occupation of a part of Lebanon, followed by the deployment of UN peacekeepers in the south of the country.

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