US ambassador says Israel has no plan to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said there was no Israeli plan to force Palestinians out of Gaza, even as Israeli ministers publicly discussed how the territory’s population could be removed.

Huckabee made the statement while visiting Palestinian-Americans in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. “I can tell you categorically there is no plan of the Israelis to displace people out of Gaza against their will,” he told reporters.

“

I can tell you categorically there is no plan of the Israelis to displace people out of Gaza against their will.

His comments followed a proposal from far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to see 250,000 Palestinians leave Gaza in the first year, followed by the remaining roughly two million residents over six years. Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel was ready to remove Palestinians by sea and land but was waiting for the United States, which he said was discussing possible destinations. Katz also claimed, without citing a source, that 80% of Gaza’s residents wanted to leave but that Hamas was preventing them.

“

There is an open-mindedness if people wish to leave, that they should have the right to leave.

Huckabee said President Donald Trump’s administration wanted Palestinians to have the option to leave voluntarily. “There is an open-mindedness if people wish to leave, that they should have the right to leave,” he said, describing it as a disgrace to keep Palestinians inside Gaza. He added: “Nobody is suggesting there would be forced displacement, the Israelis are not, the Americans are not. I know of no one who supports that.”

The remarks came as Israel approached October 27 elections, with polls showing a close race involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has brought previously shunned far-right figures into his cabinet. Forced displacement from occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. Gaza’s population has already been internally displaced by Israel’s military offensive after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack. Trump earlier proposed temporarily removing all Palestinians from Gaza and turning the territory into a luxury resort, but later backed away after opposition from countries including Egypt.

“

Nobody is suggesting there would be forced displacement, the Israelis are not, the Americans are not. I know of no one who supports that.