Nakba 2.0: Israel in talks with multiple countries to which it could send Gaza Palestinians
Israel is in talks with five countries or territories — Indonesia, Somaliland, Uganda, South Sudan and Libya — about potentially accepting resettled Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, Channel 12 reported Wednesday.
“Some of the countries are showing greater openness than before to accepting voluntary immigration from the Gaza Strip,” a diplomatic source told the outlet, naming Indonesia and Somaliland as particularly open to the idea. However, no concrete decisions have reportedly been made.
Somaliland is a breakaway region of Somalia that is reportedly hoping to secure international recognition through the deal.
The report came a day after The Associated Press reported that Israel had discussed resettling Gazans in South Sudan — an assertion the African nation’s government rejected Wednesday as “baseless” and not reflective of its official policy.
The AP said such talks were linked to a broader Israeli push to encourage mass emigration from Gaza during the ongoing war with Hamas.
On Wednesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel announced on X that she had arrived in South Sudan, “the world’s youngest country,” as part of Israel’s first official delegation to the African nation.
In her post, Haskel said she met with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit, Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba and other officials, signed a diplomatic memorandum of understanding, and visited an Israeli trauma center that she said “saved dozens of children’s lives.”
In an interview with the i24News channel on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again voiced support for the mass emigration of Gazans — a policy endorsed by US President Donald Trump, who broached the idea of resettling Gaza’s population in February but appears to have backed away from it in recent months — saying Israel is in contact with “several countries” about absorbing displaced civilians from the war-torn territory.
“I think this is the most natural thing,” Netanyahu said. “All those who are concerned for the Palestinians and say they want to help the Palestinians should open their doors to them. What are you preaching to us for? We’re not pushing them out — we’re enabling them to leave… first of all, [leaving] combat zones, and also the Strip itself, if they want to.” [Continue reading…]