Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich acknowledged that the plan to forcibly displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip had failed. He claimed that the failure resulted from Egypt not allowing Palestinians to leave through its territory and other countries refusing to accept them.
Smotrich said that the approval of countries willing to accept Palestinians evacuated from Gaza by air would be required. He claimed the issue could be resolved if each European country accepted 20,000 to 30,000 Palestinians from Gaza.
He called for hope of rebuilding Gaza to be eliminated
According to Smotrich, the key to forcing Gaza's residents to migrate is eliminating the hope that the area will one day be rebuilt. He argued that if Israel annexed the area up to what it refers to as the "yellow line" in Gaza and left the area small, overcrowded and devastated, Gaza's residents would understand that there was no point in staying there.
Statements on the forced displacement plan
Speaking to Israel-based Channel 14, Smotrich said countries still did not allow Palestinians in Gaza to migrate. He said this was one of the obstacles to the forced displacement plan.
Israeli media had previously reported that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was preparing to present to the public a plan called "Severing ties 710," which he described as "voluntary migration" from Gaza. Under the plan, 250,000 of the 2.2 million people living in Gaza would be forcibly displaced in the first year, 1.11 million within three years and approximately 1.86 million by the end of seven years.
Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz had also said that the plan to deport Palestinians from Gaza had not been canceled and remained under discussion, but was currently frozen.
