Israel is in talks with South Sudan about the possibility of moving Palestinians in Gaza into the East African country, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have been open about their desire for the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population of Gaza, but so far, they haven’t found any countries willing to accept a large number of refugees.
Netanyahu has framed the idea as “voluntary migration,” but the destruction of Gaza and the threat of being killed by the Israeli military or by starvation due to the Israeli blockade make it a forced displacement. In an interview on Tuesday, the Israeli leader said he would “allow” Palestinians in Gaza to leave.
“Give them the opportunity to leave, first of all, combat zones, and generally to leave the territory, if they want,” Netanyahu said.
The AP report cited several sources, including Joe Szlavik, the founder of a US lobbying group working with South Sudan. He said South Sudanese officials have briefed him on the talks and that Israeli officials planned to visit South Sudan to look into the possibility of setting up camps for Palestinians there, but no date has been set.
Szlavik said South Sudan is looking for the US to lift a travel ban on the country and to lift sanctions on senior US officials, meaning the US could have ways to provide incentives to the country to help facilitate the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
Relocating Palestinians to South Sudan would mean sending them to another region that’s also grappling with a severe hunger crisis. The threat of the country plunging into another civil war also looms, and South Sudan is already taking in an influx of refugees due to the conflict with neighboring Sudan.
The AP previously reported that there were similar talks on moving Palestinians to Sudan despite the raging civil war there and Somalia, another war-torn nation. Axios reported last month that the head of the Israeli Mossad, David Barnea, visited Washington looking for help convincing other countries to take in Palestinians. That report said Israel has been speaking with Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Libya about the possibility.
