Israel still wants to remove Palestinians from Gaza, defence minister says

Israel is still working to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has admitted, saying that US President Donald Trump has only frozen a plan that rights advocates say amounts to ethnic cleansing.

Speaking at a conference organised by Israeli publication Ynet on Wednesday, Katz said de-populating Gaza – which some Israeli officials euphemistically describe as voluntary “immigration” or “migration” of Palestinians – remains the “only solution”.

“In the end, there is no real solution for Gaza without this migration,” Katz said, according to the Times of Israel.

Palestinian rights advocates have argued for nearly three years that the ultimate goal of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza is to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian territory.

Some far-right Israeli officials have previously openly called for depopulating Gaza, and Trump backed the idea early in his presidency, saying that the United States would take over the enclave and “own” the territory once Palestinians are removed.

The proposal was met with outrage from Middle Eastern countries, including governments allied with Washington.

Trump subsequently sponsored a “ceasefire” deal that explicitly asserted Palestinians’ right to remain in their land.

“No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return,” the 12-point agreement says.