Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the IDF will begin annexing parts of the Gaza Strip. President Donald Trump and Israeli officials have discussed expelling the Palestinians from the Strip.
“I have instructed the IDF to seize additional areas in Gaza, while evacuating the population, and to expand the security zones around Gaza for the protection of Israeli communities and IDF soldiers,” he said on Friday. “The more Hamas persists in its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed to Israel.”
On Wednesday, Katz directly threatened the civilian population of Gaza with “utter destruction and devastation” if they did not release the hostage and expel Hamas from Gaza. He added if the Palestinians did that, then they would be allowed to leave Gaza for another country.
While Katz is demanding Hamas release the hostages, the renewed assault on the Strip breaks a hostage and ceasefire deal that would have led to the release of the remains of the Israeli captives. Since Israel resumed bombing Gaza, at least 500 have been killed, including 200 children.
President Trump has said he wants to remove all Palestinians from Gaza to build a resort city there. He said the Gazans would not be allowed back, and refugee cities would be built in other countries.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the President is endorsing Israel’s renewed military operations. “The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages there would be all hell to pay,” she said.
Last week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove all Palestinians from Gaza is taking shape. Trump’s “plan is taking shape, with ongoing actions in coordination with the (US) administration,” he said at an event in the Israeli Knesset. “This has the potential to create a historic change in the Middle East and for the state of Israel.”
He argued that 5,000 to 10,000 Palestinians could be removed from Gaza each day, cleansing the Strip of Palestinians in six months to a year. Smoltrich and Katz are currently setting up a “migration administration” to oversee the removal of the Palestinians.
Katz explained in his Friday statement that he will deploy “all military and civilian pressure tools including the evacuation of Gaza’s population southward and the implementation of voluntary relocation plans for Gaza residents.” He added that the IDF would establish “permanent Israeli control of the territory.”
On Friday, the Times of Israel reported that Egypt said it was willing to temporarily house half a million Palestinians in the northern Sinai while Gaza is rebuilt.
Still, Tel Aviv and Washington lack a country to send the roughly two million permanently resettle Palestinians. Over the past week, reports said Syria, Somalia, Somaliland, and Sudan received offers from Washington to resettle Palestinians.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com and news editor of the Libertarian Institute. He hosts The Kyle Anzalone Show and is co-host of Conflicts of Interest with Connor Freeman.
