Israel has set up a “special directorate” to facilitate the “emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza, as it steps up its public embrace of the plan by US president Donald Trump for residents to leave the devastated territory.
The new offer, which would include “among other things, special departure arrangements by sea, air and land”, underscores how prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is capitalising on Mr Trump’s proposal, under which the US would take over the coastal enclave shattered by 15 months of war.
The directorate would be set up within the defence ministry, which executes the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and controls all entry and exit points of the Gaza Strip.
In a weekend speech to Jewish-American groups in Jerusalem, Mr Netanyahu described Mr Trump’s proposal as a “common strategy,” and denied that it would amount to ethnic cleansing.
But he has also refused to say if any Palestinian civilians leaving the destroyed enclave would be allowed back, raising the spectre of a permanent displacement and a fresh refugee crisis for Egypt and Jordan.
Mr Trump’s plan – widely condemned in the Arab world – has bolstered Mr Netanyahu’s political standing with the far-right politicians that support his ruling coalition, who see the White House backing their once-fringe position that Palestinians must be expelled from their land to ensure Israeli security.
At the same time, his government also continues to engage in ceasefire talks that proponents hope will bring lasting peace and reconstruction in Gaza, in exchange for the release of all of the remaining hostages captured during the October 7th, 2023, assault on Israel.
The duelling objectives of the Netanyahu government have injected fresh uncertainty into whether Israel and Hamas can complete all the phases of the current temporary truce that has allowed a slow trickle of hostages to be released after nearly 500 days in Hamas captivity.
[ Egypt developing plan to rebuild Gaza without forcing out PalestiniansOpens in new window ]
The Israeli military assault on Hamas, which carried out the October 7th attack, has left Gaza largely uninhabitable, with wide-scale destruction of civilian infrastructure, including homes, hospitals and schools.
Mr Netanyahu has refused to say if those who leave now would ever be allowed back, raising the prospect of a mass displacement of Palestinians mirroring that of 1948, when 750,00 fled the Arab-Israeli war to end up as stateless refugees. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
