Defence Minister Israel Katz says countries that have criticised Israel over its treatment of Palestinians are “legally obligated” to shelter the future exiled Gazans.
Defence Minister Israel Katz says countries that have criticised Israel over its treatment of Palestinians are “legally obligated” to shelter the future exiled Gazans.
By Michael Koziol
February 7, 2025 — 4.33am
Washington: US President Donald Trump doubled down on his proposal to take over and clear out the Gaza Strip, while his Secretary of State described it as a “generous” mission and Israel began drawing up plans for Palestinians to leave.
Thirty-six hours after shocking the world by suggesting the US should “own” and rebuild Gaza, Trump said the territory would be gifted to the US by Israel following its destruction of Hamas.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” he posted on TruthSocial. “The Palestinians, people like Chuck Schumer, would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region.”
Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, is Jewish and was born in New York.
Trump went on to suggest the US, “working with great development teams from all over the world”, would rebuild Gaza into “one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on earth”. No military presence by the US would be required, he said.
The president’s announcement of his intent to remake Gaza, made in a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly shocked the rest of the White House. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the proposal, casting it as primarily a clean-up mission to remove debris and weaponry.
“It’s an enormous undertaking,” he said. “It’s a unique offer … But I think it’s one people need to think about seriously. It was not meant as a hostile move. It was meant as, I think, a very generous move.”
Rubio said people – referring to up to 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza – would obviously have to live elsewhere while the land was cleared and rebuilt, but at the end they would be able to “move back in”.
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His characterisation of the plan was closer to that advanced by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday, who said Palestinians would be “temporarily relocated” elsewhere rather than permanently moved, as Trump had suggested alongside Netanyahu on Tuesday.
However, the proposal has been criticised as ethnic cleansing, and would enact a long-held goal of Israel’s hard right to expel Palestinians from Gaza.
Former Israeli national security minister Ben Gvir posted said encouraging Gazans to emigrate was “the only solution to the Gaza problem … the strategy for the ‘day after’.”
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the Israeli Defence Force to prepare plans “that will allow any resident of Gaza who wishes to leave to do so”. Options would include land crossings and special air or sea departures, he said.
“Countries such as Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others, which have falsely accused Israel over its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow Gazans to enter their territory. Their hypocrisy will be exposed if they refuse,” Katz said in a statement posted on X.
“Countries like Canada, which has a structured immigration program, have previously expressed willingness to take in residents from Gaza. The people of Gaza should have the right to freedom of movement and migration, as is customary everywhere in the world.”
The Times of Israel reported Katz convened a meeting of senior defence officials on Thursday evening, local time, to discuss the plans.
Meanwhile, Egypt has launched a diplomatic blitz behind the scenes against Trump’s extraordinary proposal, warning it would put its peace deal with Israel at risk.
One Egyptian official told AP the message had been delivered to the Pentagon, the State Department and members of the US Congress.
During Netanyahu’s multi-day visit to Washington, which included a meeting with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon, the Israeli leader gifted Trump a golden pager – a reference to the September 2024 detonation of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon and Syria.
The gift “symbolises the prime minister’s decision that led to a turning point in the war”, Netanyahu’s office told Israeli media.
with AP
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via Twitter.
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