GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has issued a stark warning about Israel’s escalating efforts to forcibly displace Palestinians in Gaza toward Rafah, saying such plans could result in massive overcrowded camps along the Egyptian border for a population already uprooted for generations.
In a statement, UNRWA stressed that this forced transfer would rob Palestinians of any future in their homeland.
“We cannot remain silent and complicit in this large-scale forced displacement,” the agency said. “The only way forward is a permanent ceasefire that includes the release of hostages, guarantees for safe and dignified humanitarian access, and a genuine commitment to the two-state solution.”
Israeli Army Minister Yisrael Katz recently revealed a plan to transfer the entire Gaza population to a so-called “humanitarian zone” constructed over the ruins of Rafah. Rights groups warn this would effectively become a closed detention camp under strict military control, lacking basic necessities and forbidding residents from leaving—an arrangement they say constitutes forced detention outside any legal framework.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor condemned the plan as a dangerous escalation in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. The group said it reflects a systematic strategy to depopulate the Strip and reshape its demographics in service of a colonial agenda aimed at erasing Palestinian presence.
In its statement, Euro-Med emphasized that the first phase of the plan seeks to concentrate hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians into a flattened and devastated area under tight restrictions. The Monitor said this area, falsely labeled a “humanitarian zone,” would lack the essentials of life and serve as a mass holding facility.
The situation is further worsened, Euro-Med said, by Katz’s endorsement of what he described as the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians, making clear that the ultimate goal is external displacement—not humanitarian relief.
“This confirms that the relocation of people to the south is not for humanitarian purposes, but rather part of a phased effort to forcibly empty Gaza of its population,” the Monitor added.
As calls for international accountability grow, rights groups and UN agencies continue to urge the global community to reject such forced displacement schemes, which violate international law and threaten to complete the erasure of Gaza’s civilian population.
