JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s former public security minister and far-right politician Itamar Ben Gvir on Tuesday praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance that Gazans should be resettled outside of Gaza, calling it the “only solution”.
Ben Gvir said in a post on X that “encouraging” Gazans to migrate from the enclave was the only correct strategy at the end of the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. He urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to adopt that policy “immediately”.
The hardline former minister, who is part of a political movement advocating for Jewish settlement in Gaza, and two other ministers from his nationalist-religious party resigned from Netanyahu’s cabinet last month over a landmark deal, aimed at securing the release of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
In comments made on Tuesday during a visit to Washington by Netanyahu, Trump raised the prospect of relocating the more than 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza, suggesting it had become uninhabitable after nearly 16 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
Human rights advocates deplore such ideas as ethnic cleansing. Any forced displacement would likely be a violation of international law.
The initial six-week truce, agreed with Egyptian and Qatari mediators and backed by the U.S., has remained largely intact but prospects for a durable settlement are unclear.
The war began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since then has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, health authorities there say.
(Reporting by Emily Rose; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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