Israel has begun preparing for a possible Palestinian exodus from the Gaza Strip, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration that the United States would take over and redevelop Gaza after safe and secure homes outside the war-ravaged territory are found for its occupants.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Feb. 6 that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare plans for large numbers of Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip.
He said the plan “will include options for exit at land crossings as well as special arrangements for exit by sea and air.”
Katz said he welcomed Trump’s “bold plan, which could allow a large population in Gaza to leave for various places in the world.”
Trump on Feb. 5 proposed that most of Gaza’s population be “permanently” resettled elsewhere while the United States rebuilds the territory, turning it into what he called “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
U.S. officials later said the relocation would only be temporary.
Egypt and Jordan, which Trump has specifically suggested accept Palestinian refugees, have adamantly refused.
Jordan’s population is already more than half Palestinian, and Palestinians destabilized the country before then-King Hussein killed thousands of them and drove out radical elements in 1970.
Netanyahu called Trump’s plan “remarkable” and “the first good idea” that he had heard.
“The actual idea of allowing first Gazans who want to leave, to leave, I mean, what’s wrong with that?” Netanyahu said in an interview on Fox News.
His allies on the far-right, some of whom come from political factions that have advocated expelling Palestinians in the past for Israel’s safety and security, were supportive.
But so were centrist opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid.
Gantz, a former defense minister, said Trump’s plan showed “creative, original, and intriguing thinking.”
Lapid said, “In general, it’s good.”
Support for a two-state solution had been weakening in Israel for years, even before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
Many agreed with Netanyahu that the problem was unsolvable and could be managed only through sporadic wars and military operations.
The shock of Hamas’s attack left many Israelis open to more radical ideas if they would restore security.
Israeli columnists and commentators located firmly in the nation’s mainstream expressed support for the idea.
Some Palestinians have said they don’t want to leave, instead wanting an independent Palestinian state.
Gaza effectively was one after Israel’s 2005 pullout, and some Palestinians see themselves as refugees from ancestral homes in Israel proper that they will one day return to.
Some Gazans, though, were forcibly stopped by Hamas when they tried to go to the Egyptian frontier when the war began.
Videos have circulated of the terrorist group purportedly executing Gazans in the street, suggesting Gazans may be afraid to speak candidly on the subject.
