Israel\u2019s far-right national security minister has set out a plan for the illegal forced expulsion of all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, with the intention of sending them abroad.<\/p>\n
Speaking in the run-up to close-fought Israeli elections, Itamar Ben-Gvir said the plan aimed to remove 250,000 Palestinians from Gaza<\/a> in the first year, followed by the rest of its population of roughly 2 million over the next six years.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s realistic,\u201d Ben-Gvir said, claiming there were countries that were \u201cready\u201d to take in Palestinians from Gaza, without naming which ones.<\/p>\n While the forced displacement of civilians in occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Geneva conventions, Israeli political figures have competed over the harshness of their visions for Gaza, rebuffing efforts by the US president, Donald Trump, to advance a half-baked and largely moribund ceasefire deal that has been marked by continuing Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n Ben-Gvir said the far-right Jewish Power party would demand \u201ca ministry in charge of emigration\u201d during the formation of the next government, adding that his plan was \u201cthe result of a year and a half of work and \u2026 is concrete\u201d.<\/p>\n Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks at a rally in the Israeli city of Netanya this week. Photograph: Amir Levy\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The proposal is contained in a 20-page document with the euphemistic title of \u201cNational Work Plan for Voluntary Emigration from the Gaza Strip\u201d.<\/p>\n Despite the use of the word \u201cvoluntary\u201d, the plan will be seen as coercive by the international community because of the dire conditions imposed on Gaza\u2019s population by Israel and because of Ben-Gvir\u2019s explicit intention: to remove Gaza\u2019s Palestinian population.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, an independent UN inquiry<\/a> found that Israel continued to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza.<\/p>\n Ben-Gvir\u2019s comments follow hard on the heels of comments by Israel\u2019s defence minister, Israel Katz, who said Israel was seeking the approval of the Trump administration to displace Palestinians from Gaza, which he claimed was still under discussion after being \u201cfrozen\u201d by Trump.<\/p>\n Katz, at a conference hosted by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, said Israel would facilitate the emigration \u201cby any means\u201d, implying a policy of coercion.<\/p>\n Trump himself provoked international outrage at the beginning of his second term with a suggestion that all 2 million Palestinians leave Gaza and that the US redevelop the territory, a proposal he later walked back.<\/p>\n With elections in Israel in October, Ben-Gvir has made a series of inflammatory interventions aimed at his far-right base, including sharing footage from a site<\/a> where Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks by Israeli military courts \u2013 but not Jewish extremists accused of similar crimes \u2013 are to be executed. In another video, he revelled in the mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.<\/p>\n Polling suggests that Jewish Power, the party led by Ben-Gvir \u2013 who has convictions for incitement to racism and support for a terrorist organisation, and who has been put under sanctions by various countries \u2013 would gain about seven seats.<\/p>\n The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part staged a visit to a military outpost in Gaza on Wednesday to insist that Israel would not withdraw from the areas of Gaza that it occupies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not withdrawing. We are staying on this line. We control 60% of the strip. And there is still more to come, because we are eliminating the terrorists who threaten us \u2013 we do this day in and day out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n