Israel Katz told journalists on Monday he wanted to establish a "humanitarian city" on the ruins of the city of Rafah to initially house about 600,000 Palestinians - and eventually the whole 2.1 million population.

He said the goal was to bring people inside after security screening to ensure they were not Hamas operatives, and that they would not be allowed to leave. If conditions allowed, he added, construction would begin during a 60-day ceasefire that Israel and Hamas are trying to negotiate. One Israeli human rights lawyer condemned it as nothing less than an "operational plan for a crime against humanity".

"It is all about population transfer to the southern tip of the Gaza Strip in preparation for deportation outside the strip," Michael Sfard told the Guardian newspaper. The UN has also previously warned that the deportation or forcible transfer of an occupied territory's civilian population is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law and "tantamount to ethnic cleansing". There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. Later on Monday, during a meeting at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about US President Donald Trump's proposal that the US take over post-war Gaza and permanently resettle its population elsewhere.

Netanyahu said: "I think President Trump has a brilliant vision. It's called free choice. If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave..."We're working with the United States very closely about finding countries that will seek to realise what they always say - that they wanted to give the Palestinians a better future." Trump said: "We've had great co-operation from... surrounding countries, great cooperation from every single one of them. So, something good will happen." (BBC)