Israel’s Ben-Gvir calls anew for displacing Palestinians from Gaza Strip

JERUSALEM

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Thursday renewed his call for displacing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip amid a deadly Israeli offensive on the enclave.

“After the war, we must remain in the Gaza Strip, control it, and encourage the voluntary migration of hundreds of thousands of Gazans,” Ben-Gvir told Israeli public broadcaster KAN.

The far-right minister reiterated his opposition to withdrawing Israeli army forces from the northern Gaza Strip.

“Rockets are fired from areas from where the army withdraws,” he argued.

Several hard-line officials in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, including Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have called for encouraging what they call the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli calls have met opposition from several Western countries, including the US, France, Britain, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the European Union.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 24,448 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 61,504 others injured, according to local health authorities.

According to the UN, around 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught, while all of them are food insecure. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and ⁠aid trucks entering the territory are less than half the number before the start of the conflict.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar