The Israeli defense minister said Thursday that he had ordered Israel’s military to draft a plan to allow Gazans to voluntarily leave the enclave, a move that comes after President Trump’s proposal for a massive resettlement of Palestinians and a U.S.-led takeover of the territory.
It was far from clear whether the proposal would be carried out, where the Israeli authorities hoped the Gazans would go, or how many people they imagined would leave.
But Israel Katz, the defense minister, praised Mr. Trump’s initiative, saying it could “allow a large population in Gaza to leave for various places in the world.”
Mr. Katz said his plan for Gazans to leave the enclave would include “exit options via land crossings, as well as special arrangements for departure by sea and air.” He made no mention of whether they would be allowed to come back home after the war.
On Tuesday evening, Mr. Trump argued that the roughly two million Palestinians in Gaza should leave during a joint news conference with visiting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
He also proposed that the United States “take over” and “own” the Gaza Strip, although administration officials later tried to soften his comments.
The plan has evoked furious opposition across much of the world, and some critics have argued the moves could amount to ethnic cleansing if implemented.
“It is a fantasy to think that ethnic cleansing in the 21st century can be condoned,” Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief, said in an interview on Wednesday with CNN. “The problem in Palestine is not the Palestinians — it is the Israeli occupation,” he added.
In devastated Gaza, many vowed to remain despite the hunger, cold and fear of renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas. Both sides are currently observing a six-week truce — the first stage of a cease-fire deal mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States — and there is no guaranteeing how long it will hold.
But Mr. Trump’s statements have already prompted celebrations among Israel’s far-right, many of whom have long promulgated so-called “voluntary emigration” as the solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.
In the weeks after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war, Mr. Netanyahu’s aides lobbied its allies, including the United States and the United Kingdom, to pressure Egypt to admit hundreds of thousands of Gazan civilians.
Israel’s partners largely dismissed the proposal, in part because they feared the Israeli authorities would not allow Gazans to return home after the war.
Senior members of Mr. Netanyahu’s hard-line coalition government have publicly called for Israel to rule the territory indefinitely and build Jewish settlements there.
Many modern wars have generated waves of refugees. But Gazans, unusually, have mostly been trapped inside the Palestinian enclave with little way out.
More than 100,000 left in the first several months of the war before Israel conquered the border crossing with Egypt, shuttering the gateway. That left roughly two million still in the Gaza Strip, many of them displaced and living in tents.
Many Palestinians have resisted leaving: the mass displacement of their parents and grandparents in the wars surrounding Israel’s 1948 establishment remains one of their greatest collective traumas.
But neighboring countries like Egypt and Jordan have also shown little interest in taking them in, treating them as an economic burden and a source of potential domestic upheaval.
During an interview with Fox News on Wednesday evening, Mr. Netanyahu said that Palestinians could “relocate and come back” if necessary. “The actual idea of allowing Gazans who want to leave to leave — I mean, what’s wrong with that?” he said. “They can leave, they can then come back.”
Mr. Katz, the Israeli defense minister, argued that countries like Spain and Norway, which have been critical of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, were obligated to take them in or else “their hypocrisy would be exposed.”
José Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, appeared to shoot down the idea in an interview with the country’s public broadcaster on Thursday morning.
“Gazans’ land is Gaza and Gaza must be part of the future Palestinian state,” said Mr. Albares.
