Israel is planning to re-settle Gazans in a territory controlled by Isis nearly 2,000 miles away as Donald Trump has pledged to turn the strip into the “Middle East Riviera”.
On Thursday, Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF to prepare for the “voluntary” emigration of Palestinians, including “special arrangements” for air and sea departures.
Meanwhile, US President Trump has doubled down on his idea for the US to occupy and reconstruct Gaza.
Trump said no US soldiers would be needed to convert Gaza into “one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on earth”, while residents would be moved to “new and modern homes in the region”.
US President Trump has doubled down on his idea for the US to occupy and reconstruct Gaza
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Despite international outcry, the US president’s comments have stirred up long-standing Israeli hopes to remove Palestinians from the strip.
Egypt and Jordan, which border Gaza, have refused to take in any Palestinians left in the area, claiming the move would undermine the creation of a Palestinian state.
However, Israel Bachar, Israel’s consul general to the Pacific Southwest, said other options were being considered.
Speaking to CBS News on Wednesday, Bachar said: “From what I’m hearing we’re talking about three different states.”
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“We’re talking about one [in] Morocco, two [in] Somalia and adjacent to Somalia there is another area; it’s called Puntland, and that’s what they’re looking at, maybe, to relocate them to these three places,” he added.
Gazan citizens told The Telegraph that they have no intention of leaving to Somalia or anywhere else, branding the proposal as an attempt at ethnic cleansing.
“I do not know why they chose Somalia and Morocco, and whether these countries agreed to our emigration from Gaza, but Israel wants to occupy Gaza and expand and build settlements,” said Gaza City resident Ahmed Al-Hato, 50.
“We will establish a Palestinian state and we will never emigrate from Gaza.”
An Israeli official, speaking anonymously, called these deportation talks “extremely premature”.
“That being said, there’s of course high-level co-operation between president Trump and our prime minister on the issue,” they added.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Puntland’s deputy minister of information Yacob Mohamed said they would be happy to host refugees from Gaza, as long as they came voluntarily.
He said there was no reason to deport someone from their country to another continent unless they are choosing to move, but welcomed free movement.
Puntland sits on the northern tip of the Horn of Africa and was once a hub for piracy
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Puntland sits on the northern tip of the Horn of Africa and was once a hub for piracy.
Although it has stabilised to become the wealthiest, most stable state in a nation wracked by conflict, it remains very poor, with GPF per capita at around $507 in 2022.
The Islamic State also operates in the remote hills of the area.
On Saturday, Trump ordered military strikes on one Putland hide-out, claiming a “senior Isis attack planner” and other terrorists “hiding in caves” were killed.
Former Puntland spokesman Abdulahi Mohamed Jaha said taking in Gazans would help the area gain support from the international community. He also said they would contribute to the modernisation and development of the state.
Jaha cited the 10,000 refugees who fled the war in Yemen, claiming they brought “technological expertise” when they arrived.
“It’s best to take advantage of the unplanned opportunities that sometimes arise,” he said.
Israeli journalist Amit Segal said Israel was also looking to send Palestinians to Puntland, Somaliland (not Somalia) and Morocco.
Will Brown, an Africa expert at the European Council for Refugees, branded talks of potentially deporting hundreds of thousands of Gazans to Somalia as “insane”
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“The first two seek international recognition, the third is concerned with maintaining recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara, and all three are countries with an overwhelming Sunni Muslim majority,” he posted on X.
Will Brown, an Africa expert at the European Council for Refugees, branded talks of potentially deporting hundreds of thousands of Gazans to Somalia as “insane”.
“Somalia is a failed state plagued by jihadist violence. The idea of dumping deeply traumatised people there is hellish,” he said.
Israeli officials believe that Trump’s support could unlock a deal.
Speaking at a meeting with members of his Likud party last year, Netanyahu reportedly said: “Our problem is [finding] countries that are willing to absorb Gazans, and we are working on it.”
Yesterday, Katz said Norway, Spain and Ireland are now “legally obligated to allow any Gazan resident to enter their territories” following their recognition of a Palestinian state.
However, the countries quickly dismissed the claim, with Spain’s foreign minister saying “Gazans’ land is Gaza and Gaza must be part of the future Palestinian state”.