Netanyahu showing ‘openness’ over Palestinian migration from Gaza: Israeli far-right minister

By Zein Khalil
JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is showing “some openness” over the idea of encouraging Palestinian migration from Gaza, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Sunday.

“I am working hard to promote the encouragement of migration from Gaza with the prime minister, and I am beginning to discover some openness on the matter,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.

“Ideas like settlement in Gaza are welcome; the only times we defeated our enemies were when we took territory from them,” the extremist minister said.

“But that doesn’t satisfy me. I also want to encourage emigration [of Palestinians from Gaza].”

There was no comment from Netanyahu about his minister’s comments.

Suggesting a potential rift, Ben-Gvir, the leader of the Otzma Yehudit Party, threatened withdrawal from the government in case of a prisoner swap deal with Palestinians.

"The terms that are currently being discussed are irrelevant as far as I am concerned, and the prime minister very much does not want Otzma Yehudit to leave the government," he said.

Several Israeli ministers have called for re-occupying Gaza and reducing its Palestinian population by encouraging what they call voluntary migration amid Tel Aviv’s deadly onslaught on the enclave.

Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in October last year, killing nearly 44,400 people, most of them women and children, and injuring over 105,000.

The second year of genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions labeling the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.

On Nov. 21, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi