Israel Seeks US Support to Expel Palestinians from Gaza to Third Countries — Report
Washington (Quds News Network)- The head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea, visited Washington this week to seek US support to expel Palestinians from Gaza. According to sources cited by Axios, Barnea asked American officials to help persuade other countries to accept hundreds of thousands of Palestinians expelled from the Gaza Strip.
Barnea reportedly met with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. He told him that Israel is in secret talks with Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Libya to explore the possibility of expelling Palestinians to those countries. According to the sources, these countries showed initial openness to the idea.
Barnea proposed that the US offer incentives to encourage those countries to agree. However, Witkoff did not commit to any position, and it remains unclear whether the Trump administration will engage on the plan.
The reported talks come amid an Israeli government plan widely seen as an attempt to forcibly remove much of Gaza’s population. Israel insists the expulsion would be ‘voluntary’, but international legal experts and human rights groups say it would constitute a war crime.
Axios noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the plan during a recent visit to the White House. He claimed that Israel is working “closely” with the US to find third countries willing to host Palestinians expelled from Gaza. Netanyahu said those who wish to leave Gaza should have the “freedom to do so.”
Reports indicate that Netanyahu has tasked Mossad with finding states willing to take large numbers of expelled Palestinians. These efforts come amid mounting global concerns about potential mass displacement from Gaza, where nearly the entire population has already been internally displaced during Israel’s ongoing genocide.
The United States has denied involvement in any ethnic cleansing plan. In May, the US Embassy in Tripoli said reports about American efforts to remove Palestinians from Gaza to Libya were false.
This is not the first time the idea of expelling Gaza’s population has emerged. In 2020, US President Donald Trump reportedly proposed a similar plan as part of his so-called “Deal of the Century.” Trump later walked back those comments, saying any relocation would be voluntary.
The Palestinian resistance has repeatedly vowed to resist any attempts to expel Palestinians from Gaza.
Since October 2023, Israel’s genocide in Gaza has led to the deaths and injuries of over 196,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
