GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Shifa Hospital was once the cornerstone of the health system in the Gaza Strip. Now, after 21 months of war and two major Israeli raids, it barely functions.

Israel’s defense minister said he told the military to advance plans for what he called a “humanitarian city” built on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to reports in Israeli media.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally ordered the Israeli military to create plans for the creation of a giant concentration camp on the ruins of Rafah, where the population of Gaza would be moved in preparation for their forcible expulsion,

When the onetime director of a Gaza Strip hospital was killed by an Israeli airstrike, he joined a growing list of prominent Palestinian doctors who have died during 21 months of war that has devastated the territory’s health system.

One by one, displaced Gazans would pass through security checkpoints where they would be searched for weapons or signs of links to Hamas before being allowed into a new “humanitarian city” built on ruins.

Forced relocation of Palestinians is back in the spotlight as Israel's Prime Minister visits Washington and his Defence Minister proposes a prison-like “humanitarian city” built in Gaza, on the ruins of yet another city Israel has destroyed.

Israel's defense minister has outlined plans to pack hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into a closed zone of the Gaza Strip along the border with Egypt, according to local media reports. It appears to be the latest version of plans by the Israeli government to maintain lasting control over the territory and relocate much of