Why Israel's 'humanitarian island' plan is a 'sham'

Israel’s plans to direct a significant portion of the 1.4 million displaced Palestinians living in Rafah toward “humanitarian islands" is an attempt to whitewash its image after killing hundreds and thousands of Palestinians, activists say.

There are also fears that the Israeli military might adopt another brutal tactic it had used earlier in Gaza – directing fleeing Palestinians towards so-called safe havens and targeting those areas with bombs and bullets.

Israel's top military spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, announced plans on Wednesday to relocate Palestinians in Rafah to designated areas in Deir el Balah Governorate, a move coordinated with international partners, as part of preparations for an anticipated military invasion in the area.

The fresh plans come more than 150 days into Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 31,000 people, most of them women and children.

Rafah's population has surged in recent months due to Palestinians fleeing conflict elsewhere in Gaza, with makeshift tents now dotting the town.

Hagari said the designated areas would provide temporary refuge, along with essential provisions like shelter, food, and water, for evacuated Palestinians.

However, activists argue that this move is to create an illusion of Israel's efforts to reduce civilian harm while simultaneously exacerbating the humanitarian plight in Gaza by depriving its residents of crucial resources and directly attacking residential areas.

“There is no need to get creative. If Israel is really interested in safeguarding the humanitarian situation, then it should immediately stop deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure and allow the provision of unconditional humanitarian aid into Gaza from the several crossing points under its control,” Zaid Amali, Director of International Advocacy at Palestinian NGO MIFTAH, tells TRT World.

The potential fate of the population in Rafah has been a significant cause for alarm among Israel's allies, including the United States, as well as humanitarian organisations.

They fear that a military offensive in this densely populated area, where many displaced people reside, would result in a humanitarian catastrophe.

Rafah serves as Gaza's primary access point for crucial aid supplies, further amplifying concerns about the potential impact of any military action in the region.

“If Israel escalates its attacks, we will see a minimum of over 100,000 Palestinian deaths, which include, of course, the invasion of Rafah,” Ubai Aboudi, the executive director of the rights organisation Bisan Center for Research and Development (BCRD), tells TRT World.

At the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, Israel instructed evacuees to relocate to a patch of undeveloped terrain along Gaza's Mediterranean shoreline, designated as a secure area.

However, humanitarian organisations reported a lack of concrete preparations to accommodate significant numbers of displaced individuals in this location.

“Their ‘humanitarian island’ plan will not solve the humanitarian situation in Gaza and will not offer any protection for civilians. These humanitarian islands are like what they claim to have, safe areas during this entire genocidal campaign,” Aboudi says.

Hagari did not specify when the evacuation or the military offensive in Rafah would commence, citing the need for operational readiness and coordination with Egypt, which opposes an influx of displaced Palestinians crossing its border.

Amid ongoing clashes throughout Gaza, an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday targeted a food distribution centre in the southern part of the territory operated by UNRWA, the UN agency aiding Palestinian refugees.

The attack resulted in the death of one UNRWA staff member and injuries to 22 others.

This casualty brings the total number of agency workers killed during the past five months of conflict to 165, according to UNRWA. Gaza's health authorities reported that the strike on the UNRWA warehouse compound resulted in a total of five fatalities.

“The safe areas that the Israeli army called for people to evacuate to and to go to are the same areas that people got bombed there repeatedly,” Aboudi says.

"As a Palestinian, I see that Israel is trying to turn Gaza from a huge concentration camp to several smaller concentration camps, which they can manage, and continue their genocidal campaign of the destruction of the Palestinian people in Gaza.”