‘Concentration camp’ fears grow as Israel kill 47 Palestinians in Gaza

GAZA, Palestine (MNTV) — At least 47 Palestinians were killed on Monday in a renewed wave of Israeli air and ground strikes across the Gaza Strip.

The international condemnation also intensifies over Israel’s proposed plan to forcibly relocate more than two million civilians to a small zone in the enclave’s devastated south.

The latest casualties include 27 people killed in central and southern Gaza, and numerous others struck while waiting for humanitarian aid.

Among the dead were children collecting water and displaced civilians sheltering in tents.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reported at least 139 bodies were recovered in the past 24 hours alone, with many more believed buried beneath rubble.

The surge in attacks comes as former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert slammed his country’s controversial plan for Gaza, saying it amounted to the establishment of a “concentration camp.”

Speaking to The Guardian, Olmert condemned Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s proposal to initially confine 600,000 Palestinians to a “humanitarian zone” built over the ruins of Rafah, warning that ethnic cleansing was “the inevitable interpretation” of the policy.

“It is a concentration camp. I am sorry,” Olmert, 79, said, adding that forcibly deporting civilians into such a zone would mark a grave violation of international norms.

According to Katz, Palestinians placed in this zone would undergo security screenings, have no freedom of movement, and eventually be pushed toward “voluntary” emigration as part of a larger displacement scheme.

Meanwhile, the onslaught on Gaza continues unabated. Civil defense sources reported that seven children were killed on Sunday in a drone strike on a water collection point in central Gaza.

Israeli forces have now been accused of carrying out 112 deadly attacks on water collectors since October 2023.

Elsewhere, strikes on Gaza City’s Tuffah and Sabra neighborhoods claimed more lives, with ambulances confirming civilian casualties, including one person killed in Sabra. In the Saudi neighborhood of Rafah, footage circulated by Israeli media showed the destruction of an entire residential block by Israeli forces.

Aid seekers continue to face lethal conditions. At least 24 Palestinians were killed Sunday while approaching a food distribution point near Rafah operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, nearly 800 Palestinians were killed while attempting to access aid between late May and early July — with dozens more killed in recent days.

In Khan Younis and Al-Mawasi, Israeli drones struck makeshift shelters and distribution sites, killing multiple displaced individuals. Two more were shot dead while waiting for food in western Rafah.

The media also lost another member: Palestinian journalist Fadi Khalifa was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, bringing the total number of journalists killed in Gaza since October to 230, according to figures from the Gaza Government Media Office.

The humanitarian system is also collapsing.

Authorities in Khan Younis, Rafah, and central Gaza announced the suspension of all essential municipal services on Sunday, citing a complete fuel blackout due to the continuing Israeli blockade. Water pumping, waste collection, sanitation, and road clearance operations have all stopped.

Despite mounting global criticism, Israeli attacks continue daily.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says the death toll since the start of Israel’s campaign has now reached 58,026, with 138,520 injured.

The number of people killed while waiting for food, water, or shelter continues to rise, as does alarm over a growing man-made famine and what human rights advocates are increasingly calling a campaign of ethnic displacement.