Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed strong support for US President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to relocate Palestinians from the war-torn Gaza Strip, saying Israel is prepared to “do the job” of carrying it out.
In a Fox News interview on Saturday, as his visit to Washington was concluding, Netanyahu defended Trump’s proposal, which has sparked widespread criticism and concern across the Middle East and internationally. He described it as the “first fresh idea in years” with the potential to transform Gaza’s future.
Netanyahu explained that Trump’s plan merely seeks to “open the gate and give [Palestinians] an option to relocate temporarily while we rebuild the place physically.” He emphasized that Trump never suggested American troops would be involved, adding, “We’ll do the job.”
Israel captured the Gaza Strip in 1967 and maintained a military presence until 2005 when it withdrew settlers and troops. Since then, the Israeli government has imposed a blockade on Gaza, which has been under Hamas control since 2007. The territory has been the site of several violent conflicts, including the latest, triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel in October 2023.
Netanyahu argued that Trump’s plan breaks from the past, which he described as a cycle of Israel leaving Gaza only for it to be taken over by terrorists who use it as a base to attack Israel. He stressed the importance of finding a country willing to accept displaced Gazans, adding that any Palestinians allowed to return would have to “disavow terrorism.”
For many Palestinians, the idea of being forced out of Gaza evokes painful memories of the “Nakba” or catastrophe, the mass displacement that occurred during the creation of Israel in 1948.
Netanyahu rejected accusations of forcible eviction or ethnic cleansing, framing the proposal as a way to offer Gaza’s population an escape from what he called the “biggest open-air prison in the world.”
“Why are you keeping them in prison?” he asked, urging international critics to reconsider their stance on Gaza’s situation.
AFP
