Israeli plan for a Rafah city camp would cost billions - report

Israeli plans for a camp for Palestinians in the south of the Gaza Strip could cost several billion dollars, according to a report by Israeli ynet news site, citing senior Israeli officials.

The construction of a "humanitarian city" in Rafah is estimated to cost between €2.6 billion ($3.5 billion) and €3.9 billion, with Israel initially bearing almost the entire cost.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said at the beginning of the week that Israel intends to build a "humanitarian city" for 600,000 Palestinians displaced by the war in the southern Gaza Strip on the ruins of Rafah.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians currently living in tents in the al-Mawasi area would be accommodated in the new camp, he said.

But the plan has been criticized as creating an internment camp that could potentially enable the forced deportation of Palestinians from the land in the longer term. Israel says it is enabling Palestinians to "voluntarily leave" the embattled strip which has now largely been reduced to rubble.

It is unclear whether such a camp will ever be built, with even those involved in the planning expressing doubts, ynet reported, citing sources from Israel's cabinet. The Israeli army has also been strongly critical of the plan, according to reports.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is allowing his far-right coalition partners to "go crazy with extreme delusions" in order to maintain his fragile coalition government, in a post on X.

Netanyahu, who has been facing a corruption trial for many years, is reliant on hardliners in his coalition for his political survival. They are making ever greater demands in the Gaza war, putting additional pressure on the Israeli leader.

Radical forces in Israel, including some far-right ministers in Netanyahu's government, have openly discussed the forced deportation of the Gaza population and the establishment of Jewish settlements in the area.