Speaking ahead of the Israeli parliamentary elections, he said that the plan aims for 250,000 Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip in the first year, and the remaining from about two million inhabitants over the next six years.
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“It is realistic,” said I. B. Gvir, claiming that there are countries ready to accept Gaza Strip residents, but did not specify which countries.
“We must encourage the emigration of Gaza residents,” he said, adding that he believes this plan does not mean Palestinians will be forced to leave their land.
According to the Geneva Conventions, the forced displacement of civilians in occupied territory is considered a war crime.
For Palestinians, any effort to drive them from their land would recall the “Nakba” – the mass displacement during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
Comments incited by I. B. Gvir, who is an important minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, constantly receive international condemnation.
I. B. Gvir said that his right-wing populist party “Jewish Power” will demand the establishment of a “ministry responsible for emigration” when forming the next government, and added that his plan is “the result of a year and a half of work and (…) is concrete.”
In a 20-page document titled “National Voluntary Emigration Work Plan from the Gaza Strip,” a copy of which was seen by the AFP news agency, I. B. Gvir states that his plan offers a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Although members of the ruling right-wing coalition have repeatedly spoken about relocating Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, it is unclear whether these statements will become reality.
There is no clear favorite ahead of the October 27 elections, nor any guarantee that the currently ruling parties will remain in power after the vote.
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Israeli Defense Minister Israelis Katz said on Wednesday that his country is ready for plans to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip if approved by the United States.
I. Katz has been advocating for such a measure for several months, presented as voluntary emigration of Gaza Strip residents.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich even proposed applying this measure to Palestinians in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
U.S. President Donald Trump, starting his second term, surprised much of the world by urging all Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip.
D. Trump spoke about turning the Mediterranean coastal area, devastated by Israeli bombings after the October 7, 2023 “Hamas” attack, into a luxury resort.
He later abandoned this idea after strong opposition, including from Egypt – the only country besides Israel bordering the Gaza Strip.
After the unprecedented “Hamas” attack on Israel, in which, according to official Israeli data, 1,221 people were killed, strikes by the Jewish state have already forced most of the Gaza Strip’s residents to leave their homes.
Since then, the Israeli offensive in Gaza has claimed at least 73,470 lives, including more than 1,330 after the ceasefire, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip Ministry of Health.
