Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu tasked Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency with finding countries that would agree to receive large numbers of Palestinians displaced from the Gaza Strip, two Israeli officials tell Axios.
Why it matters: President Trump’s proposal to remove all two million Palestinians from Gaza to rebuild the enclave hasn’t gone anywhere. But Netanyahu is also looking for ways to relocate large numbers of Palestinians, potentially to countries thousands of miles away.
Behind the scenes: Talks have already taken place with Somalia and South Sudan — two poor conflict-plagued countries in East Africa — as well as other countries including Indonesia, according to the two Israeli officials and a former U.S. official.
- Netanyahu gave Mossad the secret assignment several weeks ago, the Israeli officials say.
- The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment.
Driving the news: Israel is pushing this move and other measures to encourage the removal of Palestinians from Gaza, while at the same time resuming the war and issuing evacuation orders for Palestinians from parts on the enclave.
- Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials have vowed to occupy more and more of Gaza if Hamas refuses to release the remaining hostages.
- Israeli officials have discussed, but not yet ordered, a massive ground invasion of Gaza that would involve forcing most of the population into a small “humanitarian area” in the south of the Strip.
The big picture: Around 90% of Gaza’s residents have already been displaced by the war, and over 50,000 have been killed according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
- Despite the horror they have endured, many Palestinians vehemently oppose any efforts to remove them from their homeland.
- The Palestinian Authority, numerous Arab countries and most Western countries have long opposed the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.
The latest: Israel’s Cabinet this week approved the formation of a special directorate in the Ministry of Defense that will oversee the “willful departure” of Palestinians from Gaza.
- Despite the label, the expulsion policies pushed by officials like ultranationalist Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich can hardly be described as “willful.”
- Speaking in in the Knesset last month, Smotrich spoke in vivid terms about the timeline for expelling the entire population of Gaza. “If we take out 10,000 a day it will take six months. If we take out 5,000 a day it will take a year,” he said.
- U.S. and Israeli Legal experts contend that such a massive displacement would be a war crime.
Yes, but: While several countries have agreed to take small numbers of sick Palestinians, mainly children, from Gaza, no country has agreed to accept massive numbers of Palestinians from Gaza.
- Egypt and Jordan have both strongly opposed Trump’s plans to relocate large numbers of Palestinians to those countries.
- Trump isn’t actively pursuing his displacement plan at the moment, and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is totally focused on getting a new deal between Israel and Hamas that will secure the release of hostages and restore the ceasefire, two U.S. officials tell Axios.