Israel still wants to remove Palestinians from Gaza, defence minister says 

Israel is still working to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has admitted, saying that US President Donald Trump has only frozen a plan that rights advocates say amounts to ethnic cleansing.

Speaking at a conference organised by Israeli publication Ynet on Wednesday, Katz said de-populating Gaza – which some Israeli officials euphemistically describe as voluntary “immigration” or “migration” of Palestinians – remains the “only solution”.

“In the end, there is no real solution for Gaza without this migration,” Katz said, according to the Times of Israel.

Palestinian rights advocates have argued for nearly three years that the ultimate goal of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza is to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian territory.

Some far-right Israeli officials have previously openly called for depopulating Gaza, and Trump backed the idea early in his presidency, saying that the United States would take over the enclave and “own” the territory once Palestinians are removed.

The proposal was met with outrage from Middle Eastern countries, including governments allied with Washington.

Trump subsequently sponsored a “ceasefire” deal that explicitly asserted Palestinians’ right to remain in their land.

“No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return,” the 12-point agreement says.

“We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza.”

Since the ceasefire came into effect in October 2025, Israel has continued to restrict aid to Gaza, and it has prevented reconstruction in the territory while carrying out near daily attacks against Palestinians.

Katz said the Israeli government is prepared to take Gaza “by sea, by air and by any means to do it”. But Egypt – which borders the Palestinian territory – is refusing to take in Palestinian refugees.

He added that other countries that may accept displaced Palestinians require US support but emphasised that Washington has not dropped the proposal altogether.

“At the moment, Trump has not canceled it; he has frozen it,” he said.

Katz said the ethnic cleansing plan is “being discussed all the time”.

“I think that ultimately there is no other solution, for everyone’s benefit. But for that to happen, we need the United States, and the moment will come,” he added.

Over the past three years, the US has given Israel about $25bn in military aid and defended the Israeli government at international forums, including by imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court officials investigating the atrocities in Gaza.

In July, Trump announced an agreement to disarm Hamas as part of a US-backed process that would include an Israeli withdrawal and an end to the deadly attacks on the Palestinian territory.

But Israel rejected the proposal, saying that it would not make any concessions until Gaza is fully demilitarised.

Responding to Katz’s statement, US Senator Chris Van Hollen said he and fellow Democratic Party Senator Jeff Merkley warned that Israel is planning to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian enclave after visiting the Gaza-Egypt border last year.

“Now the Israeli [Minister] of Defense confirmed that’s the goal,” Van Hollen wrote in a social media post. “We must end our complicity.”