Israel’s National Security Council has convened an urgent meeting to revive plans for the so-called “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from Gaza, despite senior officials warning that no country has agreed to take in Palestinians from the besieged enclave, Haaretz has reported.
According to the Israeli newspaper, Shmuel Ben Ezra, the new head of Israel’s National Security Council, summoned senior defence establishment officials this week to discuss “encouraging the voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The meeting is said to have been attended by officials from the Israeli army, Shin Bet and Mossad, who reportedly said there had been no practical progress on the plan.
The renewed push comes as Israel’s genocide has devastated Gaza, displaced almost the entire population and generated growing accusations that Tel Aviv is using starvation, siege, bombardment and destruction to force Palestinians out under the cover of “voluntary” departure.
Mossad representatives told the meeting that no countries had been found that were willing to receive Palestinians from Gaza, Haaretz reported. Officials were said to have been surprised that Ben Ezra raised the issue again at short notice, given that it had already been discussed several times without any progress.
“So far, we know of no country in the world that is willing to take in Palestinians who choose to leave the Gaza Strip,” a defence official familiar with the details said. The official added that there was no known change that would make such a move possible without complex international coordination.
A Qatari source cited by Haaretz dismissed the plan as “deluded”, saying: “No country will take in Gazans. Not a million and not 5,000.”
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Last year, Israel’s Security Cabinet approved the creation of a directorate to promote what it called the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians from Gaza. Defence Minister Israel Katz said at the time that the body would prepare land, sea and air routes to third countries, in line with US President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove Palestinians from Gaza and turn the enclave into a “Riviera of the Middle East”.
The proposal was widely condemned by Palestinians, Arab states and international actors as a plan for forced displacement and ethnic cleansing. Arab countries rejected Trump’s proposal as a serious violation of international law and an attack on Palestinians’ legitimate rights.
Despite Israel’s repeated use of the term “voluntary migration”, rights groups have warned that such language disguises a forced displacement campaign. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said in April that Israel was attempting to implement “the final phase” of its crime by driving Palestinians from Gaza after more than a year and a half of killing, destruction, starvation and internal displacement.
Expelling Palestinians from their home is a poplar policy in Israel. Pooling among Likud members and voters shows sweeping support for the idea. According to a study by the aChord Center cited by Haaretz, 80 per cent of Likud voters and 66 per cent of Jewish Israelis agreed with the statement that there are no innocent people in Gaza.
Far-right Israeli officials have repeatedly called for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. Former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has urged the immediate implementation of a “voluntary migration programme”, while his Otzma Yehudit Party previously submitted a bill proposing financial incentives for Gaza residents who leave.
In April, Netanyahu adviser Caroline Glick had failed to advance Israeli efforts to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, after approaching Somaliland and the Democratic Republic of Congo without success. At the time that Glick is said to have also presented ideas linked to Trump’s “Gaza Riviera” plan to US Embassy officials in Israel.
It was reported in November, a right-wing Israeli organisation was behind flights that took hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa and Indonesia, using a third-party non-profit group called Al-Majd.
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