Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has presented a plan to move 1.86 million Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip within seven years, placing it at the centre of his campaign for the October 27 general election.
The scheme is named Disengagement 710 in reference to Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza and to the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. It would promote what his Otzma Yehudit party calls “voluntary emigration” to states willing to receive Gazans.
The party has set staged targets of about 250,000 departures in the first year and 1.11 million within three. Around 2.1 million people live in the enclave.
Ben-Gvir said a dedicated emigration ministry, with its own minister, budget and international negotiating team, would top his party’s demands in talks to join the next government.
“Instead of digging tunnels, it is time to pack suitcases,” he said.
The minister rejected the charge that the plan amounted to expulsion. Departures would be documented case by case and conditional on a receiving country granting legal status, he said.
Otzma Yehudit put the initial cost at 10 billion shekels (about €2.9 billion), with a matching framework of up to 50 billion shekels (€14.3 billion) tied to international participation.
Host countries would be paid according to the number of Gazans they actually absorbed. Those leaving would be offered travel costs, initial housing, vocational training and employment support for up to 24 months.
Turkey, Ethiopia, Congo and unnamed Arab states have been examined as possible destinations. No country has so far agreed to take part, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
The proposal runs against the EU’s declared position on the territory. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has repeatedly ruled out the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has also signed a joint declaration with Arab and Islamic ministers rejecting any transfer of Palestinians out of Gaza or the West Bank.
Ben-Gvir is already the subject of a stalled European sanctions push. Italy and Spain demanded measures against him in May over the treatment of detained flotilla activists, and senior figures in Germany’s governing coalition made the same call in August.
Listing an individual under the bloc’s human rights sanctions regime requires unanimity among the 27 member states. France, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium have imposed national entry bans instead.
The idea has circulated well beyond Otzma Yehudit. Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had at points advanced emigration proposals himself to keep Ben-Gvir inside his coalition.
The paper said Netanyahu had briefed the security cabinet on contacts with Ethiopia, Congo and Somaliland about accepting Palestinians who left the Strip.
