Ben-Gvir Internationalist presents plan to take out inhabitants of Gaza

In presenting the plan, less than two months from the legislative elections in Israel, Ben-Gvir also expressed the desire to take over the portfolio of Migration if his party remains in government.

The initiative of the controversial minister, who shot a week ago to overthrow a Palestinian memorial in the West Bank, appears one day after his fellow Defense officer, Israel Katz, declares that his country is ready to withdraw the population from the Gaza Strip “by land, sea and air,” as soon as the United States, a mediating country in the conflict in the Palestinian enclave, gives its endorsement.

According to Ben-Gvir, the plan of his far-right party, which supports Likud's majority in the current government coalition, includes the creation of a dedicated government body, agreements with the receiving countries, regulated migration routes and packages of assistance to migrants.

It also provides compensation for third countries and financial aid for migrants during the first 24 months outside the Gaza Strip.

According to the figures presented, the Jewish power wants some 250,000 people to leave the Gaza Strip in the first year, 1.11 million in three years and 1.86 million in seven.

The document sets out 12 principles, including the requirement that each departure be approved by a host country, the opening of an individual dossier for each case, priority for entire families and diversified migration routes.

Ben-Gvir estimated Israel's initial investment of EUR 10 billion (almost EUR 3 billion) with additional funding of up to EUR 50 billion (about EUR 14 billion), conditional on international participation and agreements with the recipient countries.

On Wednesday, the Defense Minister said that Israel is ready to remove the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip as soon as the United States permits, and I do not see a solution to the Palestinian enclave “without this migration”.

At a conference organized by the Israeli news portal Ynet, Israel Katz noted that the large-scale migration plan in the Gaza Strip was “only frozen” by US President Donald Trump after pressure from the Arab world, but never left the table.

“ It is still the subject of discussions, even now. And I think that in the end there is no other solution for everyone's benefit. But for that to happen, we need the United States, and that moment will come,” Likud Minister said.

Katz considered that the decision will come “when it becomes clear that Hamas is not fulfilling its commitments” within the framework of the Gaza Strip Peace Council’s roadmap on the second phase of the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group governing the territory.

Shortly after his return to the White House, Donald Trump admitted in February 2025 to “take control” of the Gaza Strip and rebuild it, turning it into the new “Middle East Riviera”.

At the same time, he defended the definitive relocation of the Palestinian population in neighbouring countries, which immediately rejected the idea, while the generality of the international community reacted with words of condemnation.

In his statements during the conference, the Israeli Defense Minister referred to research indicating that “80% [of the inhabitants of the enclave] want to emigrate,” although he does not need his source, but added that Hamas “does not let them out and there is no country in the world that absorbs them.”.

Israel Katz has been defending this measure for several months as a voluntary emigration of the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip.

His fellow finance officer, Bezalel Smotrich, another ultranationalist in the government, has even suggested that he should be extended to the Palestinians in the West Bank and today Ben-Gvir's party initiative has emerged, which claims to defend this plan since the beginning of the war.

The general election polls, scheduled for 27 October, give Likud, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a technical tie with Yashar, led by the former Chief of Armed Forces Gadi Eisenkot, but neither the block of the pro-governmental parties nor the opposition can control the 120 seats in the Knesset (parliament).

Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich refused an electoral coalition of their far-right parties, suggested by Netanyahu to prevent the opposition from winning.

The Jewish Power and Religious Zionism (in alliance with the Zehut nationalist party) manage to elect between six and seven deputies each, according to the latest opinion studies, but face competition from other formations in the same political area that have emerged in recent weeks, including that of former General Ofer Winter, who elects four candidates.

The fate of the occupied Palestinian territories is one of the central themes of the legislation in Israel, as well as the circumstances of the Hamas-led attacks almost three years ago in southern Israel, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.

The conflict was suspended by a fragile ceasefire since October last year, although the two sides accused each other of successive violations of the truce and did not agree on the next stages of the peace process.

The proposal of the Gaza Strip Peace Council was accepted by Hamas, but rejected by the Israeli Prime Minister, until the process of disarmament of the Palestinian militias and demilitarisation of the territory has been completed.

The roadmap of the entity created by the US President also provided for the gradual withdrawal of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian technocratic body to manage the territory, along with the deployment of an international stabilisation force.

The war was triggered by Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people died and 251 were taken hostage.

In retaliation, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the enclave, causing more than 73,000 deaths, according to local authorities controlled by Hamas, a humanitarian disaster, the destruction of almost all the infrastructure in the territory and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

Since the beginning of the present ceasefire, Gaza Strip authorities have counted more than 1,300 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks.