Israel increased Rafah demolition to prepare for Gaza forced transfer plan

Demolition operations being conducted by Israel successful Gaza’s confederate Rafah Governorate person been stepped up sharply, an probe by Al Jazeera’s Sanad investigations portion has found.

Israel’s defence ministry has announced a program to relocate 600,000 radical into what observers accidental would beryllium “concentration camps” successful the country successful confederate Gaza, with plans to grow this to the Strip’s full population.

Sanad’s investigation of outer imagery up to July 4, 2025, shows the fig of demolished buildings successful Rafah rising to astir 28,600, up from 15,800 connected April 4, 2025, according to information from the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT).

This means that astir 12,800 buildings were destroyed betwixt aboriginal April and aboriginal July unsocial – a marked acceleration successful demolitions that has coincided with Israel’s caller propulsion into Rafah launched successful precocious March 2025.

‘Humanitarian city’

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, told reporters connected Monday that an archetypal 600,000 Palestinians surviving successful the coastal al-Mawasi country would beryllium transferred to Rafah, the determination for what helium called a caller “humanitarian city” for Palestinians, wrong 60 days of immoderate agreed ceasefire deal.

According to Katz, the full civilian colonisation of Gaza – much than 2 cardinal radical – volition yet beryllium relocated to this confederate city.

A connection seen by Reuters carrying the sanction of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) detailed plans for a “Humanitarian Transit Area” successful which Gaza residents would “temporarily reside, deradicalise, re-integrate and hole to relocate if they privation to bash so”.

The curate said Israel hopes to promote Palestinians to “voluntarily emigrate” from the Gaza Strip to different countries, adding that this program “should beryllium fulfilled”.

He besides stressed that the program would not beryllium tally by the Israeli army, but by planetary bodies, without specifying which organisations would beryllium implementing it.

Philippe Lazzarini, the caput of the United Nations bureau for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) – which has been banned by Israel – warned against the latest wide forced displacement plan.

“This would de facto make monolithic attraction camps astatine the borderline with Egypt for the Palestinians, displaced implicit and implicit crossed generations,” helium said, adding that it would “deprive Palestinians of immoderate prospects of a amended aboriginal successful their homeland”.

Israeli governmental commentator Ori Goldberg told Al Jazeera that the program was “for each facts and purposes a attraction camp” for Palestinians successful confederate Gaza, meaning that Israel is committing “what is an overt transgression against humanity nether planetary humanitarian law”.

(Al Jazeera)

“It should beryllium taken precise seriously,” helium said, and questioned the feasibility of the task of “concentrating the Palestinian colonisation successful a locked metropolis wherever they would beryllium fto successful but not fto out”.

The sheer standard of the destruction, and immoderate exceptions

For now, Rafah, which was erstwhile location to an estimated 275,000 people, lies mostly successful ruins. The standard of Israeli demolition since April this twelvemonth is peculiarly evident erstwhile examining circumstantial neighbourhoods of Rafah.

Al-Zohour neighbourhood

Al-Jnaina neighbourhood

Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood

Since Israel breached the past ceasefire agreement with Hamas connected March 19, its forces person straight targeted respective institutions.

Sanad has identified six acquisition facilities that person been destroyed, including immoderate located successful the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood, westbound of Rafah City.

However, outer information shows that respective cardinal facilities person been spared; 40 acquisition institutions – 39 schools and 1 assemblage – are intact. Eight aesculapian centres besides stay standing.

Sanad has concluded that this noticeable signifier of selective demolition powerfully suggests that the preservation of these facilities successful Rafah is improbable to beryllium a coincidence.

Rather, it indicates that Israel aims to usage these sites successful the adjacent signifier of its projected program to displace the full colonisation of Gaza to Rafah.

The spared acquisition and aesculapian buildings already service arsenic captious humanitarian shelters for tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians.

The war’s archetypal question of displacement from bluish to confederate Gaza resulted successful an overwhelming influx of radical into the 154 UN facilities crossed each 5 governorates of the Gaza Strip, including schools, warehouses and wellness centres.

According to UNRWA’s Situation Report successful January 2024, these facilities were by past sheltering astir 1.4 cardinal displaced people, an mean of 9,000 radical per facility, portion an further 500,000 radical were receiving enactment from different services.

The study besides notes that successful immoderate shelters, the fig exceeds 12,000, 4 times their intended capacity.

According to UNRWA’s latest report connected July 5 this year, 1.9 cardinal radical stay displaced successful Gaza.

Satellite imagery investigation of the Rafah country from May 2024 to May 2025 reveals that Israeli forces carried retired a two-phase cognition successful Rafah, including successful areas which had been designated for humanitarian assistance distribution.

Phase One began with the motorboat of a subject violative successful May 2024, during which astir buildings successful targeted zones successful astir of eastbound Rafah and parts of occidental Rafah were demolished.

Phase Two, which began successful April this year, involves the continued demolition of remaining residential buildings. This signifier besides included onshore levelling and the operation of entree roads to facilitate the cognition of these assistance centres.

British Israeli expert Daniel Levy told Al Jazeera that Israel intends to usage Rafah “as a staging station to ethnically cleanse, physically remove, arsenic galore Palestinians arsenic imaginable from the landscape”.

The organisation of aid, which is present nether the monopoly of the arguable Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is tally by backstage US contractors guarded by Israeli troops, is besides “a premeditated portion of a program of social-demographic engineering to determination Palestinians – to relocate, displace and kettle them,” Levy said.

Ceasefire talks

Katz’s announcement came a time aft Netanyahu arrived successful the US to conscionable US President Donald Trump, arsenic the second pushes for a deal to extremity the warfare successful Gaza and bring backmost the remaining Hamas-held captives.

Netanyahu stressed his absorption to immoderate woody that would yet permission Hamas successful powerfulness successful Gaza. “Twenty surviving hostages stay and 30 who are fallen. I americium determined, we are determined, to bring backmost each of them,” helium told reporters earlier boarding his plane. He added, however: “We are determined to guarantee that Gaza volition nary longer represent a menace to Israel.”

“That means 1 thing: eliminating Hamas’s subject and governing capabilities. Hamas volition not beryllium there,” helium said.

An Israeli negotiating squad was successful Doha this week for indirect talks with Hamas. Trump said connected Tuesday that Israel had accepted the latest ceasefire proposal, which provides for the release, successful 5 abstracted stages, of 10 surviving and 18 dormant captives, successful speech for a 60-day ceasefire, an influx of humanitarian assistance to the Strip and the merchandise of galore Palestinian detainees presently held successful Israeli prisons.

Palestinians stitchery to cod what remains of alleviation supplies from the GHF organisation centre, successful Rafah connected June 5, 2025 [Reuters]

Hamas gave what it called a “positive” response to the proposal, stressing its reservations astir the impermanent quality of the projected truce and making immoderate demands.

Netanyahu’s bureau called Hamas’s stipulations, concerning assistance mechanisms and Israel’s subject withdrawal, “unacceptable”.

Ethnic cleansing: the ‘end game’

A sticking constituent remains Israel’s power of the Morag Corridor, conscionable northbound of Rafah, which would let Israel to power and isolate Rafah, facilitating the implementation of the wide expulsion plan.

In his remarks connected Monday, Katz said Israel would usage a imaginable 60-day ceasefire to found the caller “humanitarian zone” southbound of the corridor, and that the service would clasp astir 70 percent of Gaza’s territory.

Gideon Levy, Israeli columnist for Haaretz, told Al Jazeera negotiations were improbable to effect successful much than a impermanent ceasefire, whith the merchandise of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners, arsenic “Netanyahu doesn’t privation an extremity to the war.”

While Trump could unit his state into a imperishable deal, the US president does not look inclined to propulsion his weight, observers say.

“The extremity crippled is an taste cleansing,” Levy said. “Will it beryllium implemented? I person my doubts.

“But they are already preparing the area, and if the satellite is passive and the US gives its greenish light, it mightiness work.”