US rejects Israeli suggestions of removing Palestinians from Gaza

In a rare public display of disagreement with Israel, the United States has rejected calls by top Israeli officials that the Palestinian population should be removed from Gaza.

Asked about Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz’s call for de-populating Gaza as the only “solution” to the crisis, the US State Department reiterated Washington’s commitment to President Donald Trump’s 20-point “peace plan” that established the “ceasefire” last year.

“As explicitly stated in Point 12 of the President’s plan: ‘No one will be forced to leave Gaza and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return. We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza,'” a State Department spokesperson told Al Jazeera in a statement on Friday.

“The United States does not support any plan or proposal for the forced displacement, expulsion, or mandatory transfer of the population of Gaza,” the spokesperson said.

Katz had said that Trump had only “frozen” – not cancelled – his support for removing Palestinians from the territory – a proposal that rights advocates say would amount to ethnic cleansing.

“In the end, there is no real solution for Gaza without this migration,” Katz said on Wednesday.

Israeli officials have been using “migration” as a euphemism for de-populating Gaza.

Katz said the Israeli government is ready to get Palestinians out of Gaza “by sea, by air and by any means to do it” and the idea is still “being discussed all the time”.