ReutersIsrael’s defence minister has told its military to prepare a plan to “allow any resident of Gaza who wishes to leave to do so”, in line with President Donald Trump’s proposal for the US to take over the territory and resettle its 2.1 million Palestinians elsewhere.
Israel Katz said Gazans should have “freedom of movement and migration” and countries critical of Israel’s war with Hamas were “obligated” to take them in.
Trump meanwhile said Gaza would be “turned over” to the US by Israel “at the conclusion of fighting”.
But the Palestinian presidency reiterated its rejection of the plan, which it has said would violate international law, and insisted that “Palestine… is not for sale”.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
More than 47,550 people have been killed and 111,600 injured in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Most of Gaza’s population has also been displaced multiple times and almost 70% of its buildings are estimated to be destroyed or damaged.
Healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.
AFPThe Israeli defence minister wrote on X on Thursday that he welcomed the US president’s “bold initiative”, saying it could “support long-term reconstruction efforts in a demilitarized, threat-free Gaza after Hamas”.
Katz announced that he had instructed the Israeli military to “prepare a plan that will allow any resident of Gaza who wishes to leave to do so, to any country willing to receive them”.
“The plan will include exit options via land crossings, as well as special arrangements for departure by sea and air,” he said.
“Countries such as Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others, which have falsely accused Israel over its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow Gazans to enter their territory. Their hypocrisy will be exposed if they refuse.”
He alleged that Hamas was preventing people leaving Gaza and said that they should have “the right to freedom of movement and migration”.
Hamas official Basem Naim accused Katz of trying to cover up for “a state that has failed to achieve any of its objectives in the war on Gaza” and said Palestinians would refuse to leave.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Palestinian presidency asserted that “Palestine, with its land, history and holy sites, is not for sale”.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh also said the Palestinians would “will not give up an inch of their land”, whether in Gaza or the occupied West Bank.
“The Palestinian people and their leadership will not allow the repetition of the catastrophes of 1948 and 1967, and will thwart any plan aimed at liquidating their just cause through investment projects whose place is neither in Palestine nor on its land.”
The 1948 “Nakba”, which means “catastrophe” in Arabic, saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee or driven from their homes before and during the war that followed the creation of the State of Israel.
Many of those refugees ended up in Gaza, where they and their descendants make up three quarters of the population. Another 900,000 registered refugees live in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war along with Gaza, while 3.4 million others live in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, according to the UN.
Israel unilaterally withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, though it retained control of its shared border, airspace and shoreline, giving it effective control of the movement of people and goods. The UN still regards Gaza as Israeli-occupied territory because of the level of control Israel has.
On Wednesday, Jordan’s king expressed its “rejection of any attempts to annex land or displace Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank”, while Egypt’s foreign minister stressed the importance of reconstruction “without the Palestinians leaving the Gaza Strip”.
Hamas – which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US, the UK and other countries – said Trump’s plan was “absurd” and would “only put oil on the fire” in the region.
The UN human rights office warned that any forcible transfer in, or deportation of, people from occupied territory was strictly prohibited under international law.
The UN’s secretary general also said it was “essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing” and stressed that Gaza would be an integral part of a future Palestinian state.
Antonio Guterres told a meeting in New York that the world had “seen a chilling, systematic dehumanisation and demonization of an entire people”.
Trump unveiled his plan for the US to take “long-term ownership” of Gaza and oversee its reconstruction during a visit to the White House by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.
The president said most of the Palestinians living in Gaza would have to be relocated to achieve his vision of creating “the Riviera of the Middle East”, and that they would be housed in Jordan, Egypt and other countries.
“I hope we can do something where they wouldn’t want to go back,” he said, echoing earlier remarks in the Oval Office where he talked about resettling people “permanently”.
At the White House briefing on Wednesday, spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt was asked to confirm whether all Palestinians who wanted to stay in Gaza would be allowed to do so.
“I can confirm that the president is committed to rebuilding Gaza and to temporarily relocating those who are there because… it is a demolition site,” she replied, appearing to contradict the president.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said the idea was for Gazans to leave the territory for an “interim” period while debris was cleared and reconstruction took place.
On Thursday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Gaza would “be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting”.
A ceasefire in effect between Israel and Hamas has halted the war and aims to lead to a permanent end to the fighting.
“The Palestinians… would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region. They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free,” he added.
The president also said no US soldiers would be needed to maintain stability.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Israel’s prime minister called Trump’s proposal “remarkable” and something that should be “examined, pursued and done”.
Netanyahu also suggested that Gazans would be able to return, saying: “They can leave, they can then come back, they can relocate and come back, but you have to rebuild Gaza.”
