Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has sharply criticized the proposed "humanitarian city" in Gaza, calling it a "concentration camp" and warning that its implementation could constitute "ethnic cleansing."
Olmert told The Guardian on Sunday that the plan, backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, would mark a significant escalation of what he already considers Israeli war crimes.
"It is a concentration camp. I am sorry," Olmert stated when discussing Katz's proposal to house initially 600,000 people, and eventually the entire Palestinian Arab population, in a new city built on the ruins of southern Gaza. Katz has reportedly ordered the military to begin drawing up operational plans for its construction.
According to Olmert, if Palestinian Arabs are "deported into the new 'humanitarian city,' then you can say that this is part of an ethnic cleansing. It hasn’t yet happened," he clarified, but stressed it would be "the inevitable interpretation" of such a move.
He contrasted this with current evacuations of civilians, which he views as legal under international law, given that Palestinian Arabs have returned to areas where military operations concluded.
Olmert also expressed concern over the credibility of government claims that the "humanitarian city" is intended to protect Gazans, especially given what he described were months of "violent rhetoric, including calls from ministers to ‘cleanse’ Gaza."
He argued, "When they build a camp where they [plan to] ‘clean’ more than half of Gaza, then the inevitable understanding of the strategy of this [is that] it is not to save [Palestinian Arabs]. It is to deport them, to push them and to throw them away. There is no other understanding that I have, at least."
Beyond Gaza, Olmert described cabinet ministers who he claimed support violence in both Gaza and Judea and Samaria as a greater threat to Israel's long-term security than any external foe, labeling them "the enemy from within."
Olmert said he believes that the "extreme suffering in Gaza and settler atrocities in the West Bank" are fueling growing international anger against Israel, which he contends cannot simply be dismissed as antisemitism. He noted, "In the United States there is more and more and more expanding expressions of hatred to Israel."
This is not the first time that Olmert has criticized Israel’s response to the murderous Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
In May, the former Prime Minister lashed out at Israel during an interview with the BBC, claiming that what Israel "is doing now in Gaza, is very close to a war crime".
Olmert further claimed that this is "a war without a purpose - a war without a chance of achieving anything that can save the lives of the hostages."
The former Prime Minister asserted that the "obvious appearance" of the war in Gaza is that thousands of innocent Gazans are being killed, as well as many Israeli soldiers.
"From every point of view, this is obnoxious and outrageous. We are fighting the killers of Hamas, we are not fighting innocent civilians. And that has to be clear," he told the BBC.
Olmert made similar comments to CNN this past November, advocating an immediate cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip and a move toward a preliminary agreement on the basis of a two-state solution.
Previously, Olmert warned that a military operation in Rafah is not worth the cost of soldiers' lives, uninvolved Gazans, and the hostages.
In an interview with TIME, Olmert said that he believes Israel will not achieve the absolute victory that Netanyahu speaks of, but it might still be possible to save the lives of the hostages.
