Israel said it had begun preparations for the Palestinian withdrawal from Gaza despite global condemnation of US President Donald Trump's plan to empty the territory of its population. Egypt has launched a behind-the-scenes diplomatic offensive against the proposal, warning that it could jeopardize its peace deal with Israel, officials said.
The Trump administration has already watered down certain aspects of the plan after it faced widespread international condemnation, arguing that the relocation of Palestinians would be temporary. U.S. officials have given few details about how or when the plan would be implemented.
Trump said yesterday that Israel would hand over Gaza to the US after the war and that no American troops would be needed for his plan to rebuild the territory.
“Palestinians would already have been relocated to far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
Palestinians have strongly rejected Trump's proposal, fearing that Israel will never allow them to return. Egypt has warned that expelling Palestinians would destabilize the region, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Saudi Arabia, another key US ally, has also rejected any mass displacement of Palestinians and said it would not normalise relations with Israel, a key goal of the Trump administration, without the establishment of a Palestinian state that includes Gaza.
Trump and Israeli officials have presented the proposed relocation from war-torn Gaza as voluntary, but Palestinians have unanimously expressed their determination to remain in their homeland.
Israeli Defense Minister Katz said that countries that opposed military operations in Gaza should take in Palestinians.
Trump and Israeli officials have not said how they would respond if the Palestinians refuse to leave. However, Human Rights Watch and other groups say the plan, if implemented, would amount to “ethnic cleansing,” the forcible removal of the civilian population of a specific ethnic group from a geographic area.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said yesterday that he had ordered the military to begin preparations to facilitate the emigration of a large number of Palestinians from Gaza via land crossings, as well as for "special arrangements for exit by sea and air."
The AP reported that there were no immediate signs of such preparations on the ground.
Katz said that countries that opposed Israel's military operations in Gaza should take in Palestinians, Reuters reported.
“Countries like Spain, Ireland, Norway and others, which have made accusations and false claims against Israel for its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow every Gazan to enter their territory,” he said.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi has not yet publicly reacted to Trump's proposal to relocate most of the 2,3 million Palestinians from Gaza and for the US to take over the reconstruction of the territory.
However, Egyptian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday that Cairo had made it clear to the Trump administration and Israel that it would oppose any such proposal and that the peace agreement with Israel, which has lasted nearly half a century, was in jeopardy.
One official said the message had also been passed on to Israel and its Western European allies, including Britain, France and Germany.
A Western diplomat in Cairo, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that he had received Egypt's message through multiple channels. The diplomat, according to the AP, said that Egypt takes the plan very seriously and sees it as a threat to its national security.
He added that Egypt had previously rejected similar proposals made by the Joe Biden administration and European countries at the start of the war. Those earlier proposals were discussed privately, while Trump announced his plan at a White House news conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hamas, which still controls most of Gaza, has repeatedly condemned Trump's proposal, and yesterday said it would consider any American takeover of the enclave an occupation, implying it would respond with armed resistance.
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