Israel ready to remove Gaza population if US approves, minister says

Israel’s defense minister says plans are ready to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, but the government is waiting for Washington to decide where they would be taken. Israel Katz said the plan could be carried out “by sea, by air, by every way possible.”

“There is no real solution for Gaza in the end without this migration,” Katz said at a conference hosted by Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth. He described the proposal as still active, despite President Donald Trump’s earlier retreat from his call for all two million Palestinians to leave the territory.

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There is no real solution for Gaza in the end without this migration.

Trump initially suggested developing Gaza, which has been devastated by Israeli bombardment since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack, as a luxury resort destination. The idea drew strong opposition, including from Egypt, the only country besides Israel that borders Gaza. Palestinians also condemned it, saying any effort to force them from their land would recall the Nakba, the mass displacement associated with Israel’s creation in 1948.

When Trump announced a Gaza ceasefire in October, his 20-point plan for the territory included no forced displacement. Katz said Trump had only “frozen” the idea while seeking countries willing to receive Palestinians. “The plan hasn’t been cancelled; it is being discussed all the time, even now, and I think there is no other solution for everyone’s good,” Katz said. “But for it to happen, we need the US. When will we get their approval? Whenever it becomes clear that Hamas is not meeting its obligations” under the ceasefire.

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The plan hasn’t been cancelled; it is being discussed all the time, even now, and I think there is no other solution for everyone’s good.

Katz said, without identifying a source, that 80% of Gaza’s residents wanted to leave and that Hamas was preventing them. Forced displacement of civilians in occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Katz’s predecessor, Yoav Gallant, over alleged war crimes, allegations Israel and the United States reject.

Israeli attacks have already displaced most of Gaza’s population after Hamas’s unprecedented attack killed 1,221 people, according to official Israeli figures. Israel’s offensive has killed 73,470 people in Gaza, including more than 1,330 since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas.

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But for it to happen, we need the US. When will we get their approval? Whenever it becomes clear that Hamas is not meeting its obligations.