TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has described Israel’s plan to move the population of Gaza into a restricted zone in the south of the territory as “a concentration camp idea”. 

Israel’s so-called “humanitarian city” was described by its former prime minister Ehud Olmert as a concentration camp yesterday.

The plan, first unveiled by right-wing MP and Israeli defence minister Israel Katz, envisions a closed zone in south Gaza for Palestinians during a 60-day ceasefire which would initially house around 600,000 displaced people from Gaza.

Later, the entire civilian population of Gaza – more than two million people – would eventually be relocated there, under the plan.

The Journal asked Taoiseach Micheál Martin for his reaction to this idea today. He said: “What we’re now witnessing – in terms of the Israeli government’s announcement overnight – we’re essentially looking at a concentration camp idea in Gaza.” 

He added: “And in fairness, former senior Israeli politicians have come out and condemned the proposal of the Israeli government. In our view, it’s a war crime to attempt to do what Israel is going to attempt to do with population of Gaza. 

Martin also rejected former justice minister Alan Shatter’s description of the Occupied Territories Bill, which will would ban the trade of goods with illegal Israeli settlements, as “Nazi legislation”.

Shatter is due to address the foreign affairs committee this afternoon, representing the Ireland-Israel Association, where he will voice his opposition to the proposed legislation. 

“I think if he used that language, that’s shocking,” Martin said of Shatter’s comment. 

“What we’ve witnessed is the continuing collective punishment of the people of Gaza, and I think former minister Shatter should perhaps focus on that a bit more and not just completely dismiss the appalling murder and killing of innocent children and civilians in Gaza, which has shocked the world.” 

Martin added that “the level of barbaric behaviour is something that genuinely has shocked people, and it should stop”.

“That war should stop.” 

Martin also referenced former prime minister Olmert’s comments about the plan to push the people of Gaza into a concentration camp, who told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today that the plan could constitute a war crime and is “intolerable and unacceptable”. 

“The argument that it will become a humanitarian camp is ridiculous,” Olmert said. 

“Those who propose it say time and again that they’re against any humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in Gaza, so altogether clearing a large part of the Gaza in order to make it available for resettling of Israeli settlements is something that may be interpreted as ethnic cleansing.”

With reporting from AFP