New Delhi, July 15 -- The "humanitarian city" proposed by Israel's defence minister to be built on the ruins of Rafah would in effect be a concentration camp, and forcing Palestinians into it would amount to ethnic cleansing, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has warned.

Israel's defence ministry has reportedly floated a plan to confine a large portion of Gaza's population to a heavily damaged, tightly controlled zone in the southern part of the Gaza enclave, in Rafah, bordering Egypt. The controversial proposal risks derailing ongoing ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

In recent weeks, Israeli officials have briefed journalists and international diplomats on an informal plan to relocate hundreds of thousands of Pa...