Israeli politician Itamar Ben Gvir praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Palestinians be relocated from Gaza, aligning with settler groups in the West Bank who are calling for immediate action.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Ben Gvir, the former minister for national security, stated that encouraging Gazans to leave the enclave was the only viable strategy following the war between Israel and Hamas. He called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to implement this policy without delay.
Ben Gvir, who is part of a political faction pushing for Jewish settlements in Gaza, resigned from Netanyahu’s cabinet last month along with two other ministers from his nationalist-religious party. The resignation followed a landmark deal aimed at securing the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails.
Trump, speaking during Netanyahu’s visit to Washington on Tuesday, raised the possibility of relocating Gaza’s 2 million Palestinian residents, describing the region as increasingly uninhabitable after over 16 months of conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The Nachala Movement, which advocates for Jewish settlement in the West Bank, responded by urging the establishment of settlements throughout Gaza if Trump’s plan were to be realized. “No part of the land of Israel should be left without Jewish settlement. If an area remains desolate, it may be captured by enemies,” the group wrote on X.
Human rights groups condemned the proposal, calling it ethnic cleansing and asserting that any forced displacement would likely violate international law.
The six-week truce, brokered by Egyptian and Qatari mediators with U.S. backing, has largely held, though the prospects for a lasting resolution remain uncertain.
The conflict began with a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in 1,200 Israeli deaths and over 250 hostages, according to Israeli sources. Since then, Israeli military actions in Gaza have led to the deaths of more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health authorities.