Arab League slams Israel's 'humanitarian city' plan as 'ethnic cleansing'

The Arab League on Tuesday condemned Israeli plans to confine Palestinians to a "humanitarian city" in the southern Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the Arab League affirmed that this plan "bears no relation to civility or humanitarian principles," emphasizing that the proposal reflects an "ethical decline of the occupation."

The organization added that the plan exposed Israeli intent to continue "ethnic cleansing," reoccupy the Gaza Strip, and potentially pave the way for settlements.

The pan-Arab organization appealed to the international community to forcefully confront such "inhumane schemes," stressing the immediate need for a ceasefire agreement.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier this month that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces and his ministry to bring forward a plan to establish a new "humanitarian city" on the ruins of Rafah, Israeli media reported.

According to Katz, an initial 600,000 Palestinians living in the coastal al-Mawasi area would be transferred to Rafah within 60 days of any agreed ceasefire deal. The entire civilian population of Gaza – more than 2 million people – will eventually be relocated to this southern city.

"It is a concentration camp. I am sorry," Israel's former prime minister Ehud Olmert told The Guardian on Sunday. "If they (Palestinians) will be deported into the new 'humanitarian city,' then you can say that this is part of an ethnic cleansing."

Hundreds of killings at aid points

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and convoys run by other relief groups, including the UN.

The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of GHF sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.

The GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.

The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, previously told Reuters that such incidents have not occurred on its sites and accused the UN of misinformation, which it denies.

"The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights and humanitarian organizations," Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.

The UN has called the GHF aid model "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

Talks in Qatar

Israeli and Hamas negotiators have been taking part in the latest round of ceasefire talks in Doha since July 6, discussing a U.S.-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire that envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the conflict.

U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that he was "hopeful" on the ceasefire negotiations underway in Qatar, a key mediator between the two sides.

U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators have been working to secure an agreement, but Israel and Hamas are divided over the extent of an eventual Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave.

(With input from agencies)