Benjamin Netanyahu is back in the White House this week to discuss a possible US-brokered ceasefire with Hamas, but his defence minister has stolen the headlines with another controversial proposal: to force Palestinians into what he termed a "humanitarian city" in Gaza.

What is the plan?
Defence boss Israel Katz told reporters yesterday that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare to establish a new zone in southern Gaza, on the rubble where the city of Rafah stood.

Katz said the plan was for the IDF to control the perimeter of the site, which would initially accommodate about 600,000 displaced Palestinians, most of  whom have been living in the coastal al-Mawasi area. They would go through "security screening" before entering – but once inside, they would not be allowed to leave.

Eventually, the whole population of Gaza would be moved there, in what he called the "emigration plan", said Haaretz. But the IDF would not run the site or distribute aid, Katz added.

What else do we know?
Reuters has reportedly seen a proposal, created after 11 February and carrying the name of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, that outlined "a vision of replacing Hamas' control over the population in Gaza". The plan describes the camps as "voluntary" places where Palestinians could "temporarily reside, deradicalise, re-integrate and prepare to relocate if they wish to do so", the news agency said.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation insisted that the presentation seen by Reuters was "not a GHF document". A senior US official said "nothing of the like is under consideration" and the US State Department declined to comment.

What has the reaction been?
The plan would break international law, said Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer. "While the government still calls the deportation 'voluntary', people in Gaza are under so many coercive measures that no departure from the strip can be seen in legal terms as consensual."

Driving someone out of their homeland during a war is a "war crime", Sfard told The Guardian. And "done on a massive scale", like that described by Katz, "it becomes a crime against humanity".

The Israeli defence minister has laid out plans for "a concentration camp", said Amos Goldberg, a Holocaust historian and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "It is neither humanitarian nor a city."

"Some say everyone has a novel in them," said The Times, "and the recent boom in self-published books suggests it could be true." Whether you're a successful author with a "three-book publishing deal" or embarking on your  first writing project, "the hardest part of the process is getting started". 

Here are some of the best writing retreats to put pen to paper in peace.

Silk Road Slippers, Marrakech
Alexandra Pringle, Bloomsbury's editor-in-chief, and Alex von Tunzelmann, the historian and author of the bestselling "Indian Summer", are helping writers to "unlock" their literary skills at this "book camp" in Marrakech, said the Financial Times. The "fully immersive" five-day workshop includes everything from "hands-on exercises" to "one-on-one feedback" and talks from a star-studded line-up of guest authors (Alan Hollinghurst had "top billing" at the spring masterclass). silkroadslippers.com

Hawkwood College, England
"If you're looking for total luxury, Hawkwood isn't for you," said Laura Hackett in The Times. The 19th century country house, in Stroud, has a "well-worn feel", with "creaking floorboards" and threadbare sofas, "but for me this was all part of its charm". The five-day course that I attended there was run by horror writer Ally Wilkes and freelance editor Cat Camacho, and their "real skill" was making us feel "comfortable enough to share our work with strangers". hawkwoodcollege.co.uk

How Fiction Works with Claire Keegan, Ireland
Claire Keegan's summer retreat in Co Carlow tackles the ins and outs of fiction, with a focus on several key components of the novel. This course is very much centred around theory and you'll need to complete a reading list before arriving, said Hackett in The Times. "But if that sounds exciting rather than daunting, you'll have the chance to learn from one of contemporary fiction's great writers." ckfictionclinic.com

Police finally wake up to the dangers of cannabis
Melanie Phillips in The Times
"Is the smoke finally starting to clear over cannabis?" says Melanie Phillips, as police chiefs call on officers to "crack down" on use of the drug. "For years, a handful of campaigners, scientists and journalists" were "mocked" for arguing that the "liberal orthodoxy on cannabis was the road to ruin". We were "scornfully dismissed", but "now the British police appear to be joining the dots". The challenge is to "persuade a liberal establishment that still persists in its dopey haze". 

Starmerism is disintegrating
Aaron Bastani in The New Statesman
The more voters see of Keir Starmer, the "less enthusiastic" they become, writes Aaron Bastani. The "sell" of Starmerism was "dangerously" simple, but we now know that with "little growth, an ageing population and fragmenting politics", the government needs "more than rhetorical allusions to competence and a nice haircut". The PM needs an "analytical lens" and an "ideology", but "don't bet on that happening before the next general election", because it would "require a capacity for self-criticism".

Oasis represent a self-confidence that is all but extinct in Britain today
Suzanne Moore in The Telegraph
Nostalgia is "a helluva drug" and it's "freely available and widely consumed", especially as Oasis reunion gigs "refill the air with an irresistible 1990s snarl", says Suzanne Moore. "Nothing like" this band "could happen today", because everything is "different now". We're "nostalgic" for their "unbridled, rebellious confidence", which "seems to be a thing of the past" in a world is "full of worries about the advance of AI, climate change" and "perpetual war".