Departure of 2M inhabitants 'solution' for Gaza: Israeli ex-minister

By Mahmoud Barakat

ANKARA (AA) — A former Israeli minister has said the "solution" to the situation in the Gaza Strip is the complete departure of its over 2 million Palestinian inhabitants.

Speaking on Israeli Channel 13, former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, said recently that the city of Khan Younis, located in the southern Gaza Strip, would be turned into a "soccer field" with the help of God and the Israeli army.

Israel should "take advantage of the destruction that we will wreak upon them," Shaked said, arguing that other countries should permanently take "20,000 or 50,000" each of Gaza's Palestinian residents to vacate the area entirely.

She stressed that Israel should take an advantage of the current destruction in Gaza and allow more people to leave, citing the previous departure of some 500,000 young people in recent years.

"We need 2 million to leave ... that’s the solution for Gaza," she said.

Shaked said other countries should "shoulder the burden in order to allow them (Gazans) to leave."

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas attack, killing more than 14,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to health authorities in the enclave.