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Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has set out a plan to remove Palestinians from Gaza and send them abroad.
Speaking on Thursday before Israel’s October 27 elections, Ben Gvir said his plan would see 250,000 Palestinians leave Gaza in the first year.
He proposed that the remaining roughly two million residents would leave over the following six years.
“It’s realistic,” Ben Gvir said, claiming some countries were “ready” to receive Gazans without naming them.
“We must encourage the emigration of Gaza’s inhabitants,” he said, insisting that his plan would not involve forcing Palestinians from their land.
However, forced displacement of civilians in occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.
For Palestinians, the proposal has echoes of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, referring to the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.
Ben Gvir, a key figure in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, said his Jewish Power party would demand a ministry dedicated to emigration if it helps form the next government.
He said the plan was the result of “a year and a half of work” and described it as “concrete”.
A 20-page document titled National Work Plan for Voluntary Emigration from the Gaza Strip, seen by AFP, presents the proposal as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Although members of Israel’s ruling coalition have repeatedly discussed transferring Palestinians from Gaza, it remains unclear how far the proposals will go.
Israel’s October 27 election is expected to be closely contested, with no guarantee that the current governing parties will remain in power.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that the country was prepared to remove Palestinians from Gaza if the United States approved the plan.
Katz has for months supported the proposal, describing it as the voluntary emigration of Gaza’s population.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has also proposed extending the plan to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
US President Donald Trump previously called for Palestinians to leave Gaza and proposed transforming the war-damaged territory into a luxury resort.
Trump later stepped back from the proposal following strong opposition, including from Egypt, which borders Gaza alongside Israel.
According to Israeli figures, Israeli attacks have displaced most of Gaza’s population since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which killed 1,221 people.
Israel’s subsequent offensive has killed at least 73,470 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The ministry says more than 1,330 people have been killed since the ceasefire.
