Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed President Donald Trump’s proposal for the United States to “take over” Gaza, as his defense minister instructed the Israeli military to draw up a plan that would enable the “voluntary departure” of Palestinian residents in Gaza.
“This is the first good idea that I’ve heard. It’s a remarkable idea and I think it should be really pursued, examined, pursued, and done because I think it will create a different future for everyone,” Netanyahu said of Trump’s plan for the future of Gaza, in an interview on Fox News Wednesday.
“The actual idea of allowing first Gazans who want to leave to leave, I mean, what is wrong with that?” he said, adding that Palestinians who left could come back after reconstruction was complete.
Trump announced on Tuesday at a joint news conference with Netanyahu a plan for the US to take “long-term ownership” of Gaza, relocate its residents to neighboring countries, and redevelop the Palestinian territory into what he described as the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Much of Gaza has been obliterated by 15 months of Israeli bombardment following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attacks.
The proposal raises the question of whether Palestinians could forcefully be removed from their home, and breaks with decades of US foreign policy, which has long emphasized a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
Critics warn Trump’s plan would also likely break international law, could amount to ethnic cleansing and could result in putting US troops once again into the heart of a Middle Eastern conflict. White House officials have also since walked back many of the details.
Regional leaders, Palestinian officials and many western allies of Washington widely rejected the idea of displacing Gaza’s residents following Trump’s comments. Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said Wednesday that Arab nations were planning to reconstruct Gaza while Palestinians remain in the enclave.
‘Voluntary departure’
On Thursday, Defense Minister Israel Katz directed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prepare a plan “to enable the voluntary departure of Gaza residents,” according to a Defense Ministry statement.
“I have instructed the IDF to prepare a plan to enable the voluntary departure of Gaza residents,” Katz said, according to a spokesperson.
“I welcome the bold initiative of US President Trump, which could allow a large portion of Gaza’s population to relocate to various destinations worldwide.”
Katz said Trump’s plan “will take many years,” during which Palestinians would be integrated “into host countries while facilitating long-term reconstruction efforts in a demilitarized and threat-free Gaza in a post-Hamas era.”
Trump’s plan flies in the face of the aspirations of Palestinians, who have long advocated for statehood and roundly dismissed Trump’s relocation proposal when he first floated it two weeks ago.
Most of the two million people living in Gaza won’t want to leave, analysts have said, raising the question of whether they could be forcefully removed – which is prohibited under international law.
There are about 5.9 million Palestinian refugees worldwide, most of them descendants of people who fled with the creation of Israel in 1948. Approximately 90% of Gaza residents were displaced in the latest war, and many have been forced to move repeatedly, some more than 10 times, according to the UN.
It’s also not clear how exactly Trump’s proposed land grab would work, and analysts have cast doubt on the feasibility of his plan.
In his interview with Fox, Netanyahu said his government remained committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities in Gaza.
“We have decimated most of Hamas’ military power, not all,” he said, adding “we’ll make sure it is not there when this war ends.”
Despite Israel’s 15-month war against Hamas which has eliminated many of the group’s senior leaders, flattened Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, the militant group has remained resilient.
Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said recently that each time Israel has completed military operations in Gaza and pulled back, Hamas militants regroup and re-emerge.
“We assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost. That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war,” he said.
Negotiations on extending the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal – which expires on March 1 – are in doubt with considerable uncertainty about what the next stage of the fragile truce will look like.
Netanyahu said his government remained committed to releasing all remaining hostages in Gaza.
But the Israeli prime minister has been deeply wary of phase two of that deal, which would see the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the return of the remaining hostages there. His finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has pledged to quit the government if the ceasefire continues.
This is a developing story and will be updated.