RAMALLAH, Palestine

Palestine on Monday condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to encourage Palestinians to voluntarily leave Gaza, calling for an international stand against it.

"Netanyahu's confessions regarding the displacement of our people is a new blow to the countries supporting him in the genocidal war on Gaza Strip," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Palestinian group Hamas also condemned Netanyahu's plan, saying it is an attempt to "prolong the aggression."

"The Palestinian people will not allow to pass any plan that aims to obliterate their cause or to get them out of their lands and sanctities," it said.

Netanyahu is said to have told a meeting of his Likud party that he was ready to encourage the voluntary migration of Palestinians from Gaza, but the problem was whether there were “countries that are willing to absorb an exit.”

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 20,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with half of the coastal territory's housing damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely populated enclave amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar​​​​​​​​​​​​​​