Israel’s Smotrich: Trump’s Plan to Displace Palestinians from Gaza to Begin in Coming Weeks

Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that US President Donald Trump’s plan to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza could begin within weeks.

Speaking at a meeting with journalists on Saturday, he confirmed that discussions with US teams have begun to implement the mass displacement plan.

“Preparations have started amongst our teams, alongside teams of the US President Donald Trump,” Smotrich told reporters, according to Israel Channel 12.

He explained that the plan involves two key components.

“One is to find countries that can receive people, and two, it’s a huge logistical operation to take such a large number of people out of here.”

Smotrich expressed confidence that the process would begin soon and that Palestinians would want to leave their homeland.

“I think most of them will want to,” he stated, adding that “it is a process that is going to start in the coming weeks, even if it starts at a slower pace, bit by bit it will gather speed and intensify”.

The minister went on to argue that Gaza’s residents would have no future in the territory, citing the mass destruction brought about by 15 months of heavy Israeli bombardment.

“The people of Gaza have nothing to look for in Gaza in the next 10-15 years,” Smotrich said.

“After we return to fighting, and Gaza will look like Jabalia, there will be nothing to look for there.”

“Take Over” Gaza

Recently, Trump announced a proposal to “take over” Gaza and forcibly expel its more than 2 million Palestinians.

Trump has also called on Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab countries to take in Palestinians – a proposal that has been met with widespread criticism and rejection from Arab countries and other allies while being condemned as an ethnic-cleansing plan.

In an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, Trump also said he would “own” Gaza and said it would be a “real estate development for the future”. Asked whether Palestinians would have the right to return, Trump said: “No, they wouldn’t.”

“In the meantime, I would own this,” Trump – a former real estate developer – added, saying: “Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent.”

History of Inflammatory Remarks

Smotrich has been a strong advocate for ethnically cleansing Palestinians from Gaza, annexing the strip, and reestablishing settlements there since the Israeli assault began. He also called for adopting harsh measures against the besieged enclave, including withholding aid.

On Saturday, he expressed support for annexing five percent of the Gaza Strip as retaliation for “a single hair falling from the head of one of our hostages”.

“The Biden administration was complex, creating many restrictions,” he said.

“Trump gave us full legitimacy to go ‘all in’ on this, and that’s what I would have done.”

He once said that Israel must “occupy the entire” northern Gaza, and threaten to remain there indefinitely. “In order to return the hostages, we need to occupy the entire northern Gaza Strip, and inform Hamas unequivocally that if the hostages are not returned home safe and sound, we will apply Israeli sovereignty there and remain forever, and Gaza will lose a third of its territory,” Smotrich told reporters in the Knesset.

In August, Smotrich suggested that starving the entire population of Gaza might be “justified and moral” to release the Israeli captives.

“We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause two million civilians to die of hunger even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned,” he said.

In January, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Smotrich presented the migration of Palestinians as a solution for securing the stability necessary to allow Israelis in the south to return.

The “correct solution” is “to encourage the voluntary migration of Gaza’s residents to countries that will agree to take in the refugees,” Smotrich said, predicting that “Israel will permanently control the territory of the Gaza Strip,” including through the establishment of settlements.