Portraying Trump Plan as 'Voluntary' Migration, Israel Prepares for Forced Displacement of Palestinians

As U.S. President Donald Trump expanded on his plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza and force Palestinians to resettle against their will in what he said Thursday would be "far safer and more beautiful communities," Israeli officials ordered the military to prepare for the mass exit of the enclave's over 2 million people—claiming the exodus would be "voluntary."

Defense Minister Israel Katz suggested the forced displacement of Palestinians would be an orderly affair, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) preparing "a plan that will allow any resident of Gaza who wishes to leave to do so, to any country willing to receive them."

He also cast himself as an advocate for "the right to freedom of movement and migration," saying countries such as Spain, Ireland, and Norway—which officially recognized Palestinian statehood last year—"are legally obligated to allow Gazans to enter their territory."

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares countered on a national radio program in Spain that "no one should enter into a debate about where the Palestinians, and in particular Gazan Palestinians, should go."

"The land of the Gazan Palestinians is Gaza," said Albares.

Despite Trump's insistence in a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that Gaza "has been hell" for Palestinians and "is not a place for people to be living," Gaza residents told reporters this week that they "would rather die here than leave this land."

"We have brought our kids up teaching them that they can't leave their home and they can't allow a second Nakba," one resident, Um Tamer Jamal, told Reuters, referring to the mass displacement of Palestinians in the late 1940s.

Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), told Al Jazeera that the plans outlined by Trump and Israeli officials "would potentially amount to ethnic cleansing" and forced displacement.

"And if that forced displacement was done as part of a systematic and widespread attack against the civilian population as a matter of state policy, it would actually be a crime against humanity," he said, adding that while countries are obligated to consider asylum applications by those who are fleeing their homes and attempting to resettle of their own volition, governments "do not have an obligation to participate in the forced displacement of the entire population of the Gaza Strip."

Despite Trump's attempt to "dress up his proposal as an act of benevolence," said former HRW executive director Kenneth Roth, Israel's U.S.-funded destruction of Gaza cannot be "rectified by another huge war crime."

On his social media platform, Truth Social, on Thursday, Trump said "no soldiers by the U.S. would be needed" in Gaza to complete the plan and that the enclave would be "turned over to the United States by Israel."

His latest remarks contradicted those of some administration officials on Wednesday, including White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who both suggested the displacement of Palestinians would be "temporary."

Former Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told The Times of Israel that "the voluntary departure of Gaza residents" would be an "important step, which recognizes that the real solution for Gaza is no longer dreams of 'reconstruction' and a return to the previous situation, but a fundamental change in reality."

Netanyahu called Trump's proposal a "remarkable idea" on Thursday, neglecting to mention that he himself said in December 2023 that Israel's relentless U.S.-backed bombardment of Gaza was ultimately aimed at pushing Palestinians toward "voluntary migration" and that Israeli officials were hoping to find countries "willing to absorb" the population.

Hussein Haridy, former assistant foreign minister of Egypt, asserted that the "true purpose" of Trump's plan was "to bury the two-state solution," after decades of the policy proposal being the official objective of the U.S. government.

"Egypt has made its official position clear. We do not see eye to eye with President Trump's plan. We don't think his plan is achievable, or practical," said Haridy. "Egypt has always been committed to a two-state solution, because we believe that without it, insecurity and instability will remain with us in the Middle East."