The Israeli Defense Ministry announced Tel Aviv will begin annexing Gaza.
The Israeli Security Cabinet created a new office within the Defense Ministry that will work to remove all Palestinians from Gaza. Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Tel Aviv is moving forward with President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza.
The Times of Israel reports that the new office was established on Saturday night. A statement from Katz’s office said the body will work to encourage what it called the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians from Gaza, and that he would be appointing the head of the agency in the coming days.
The office will work to “prepare for and enable safe and controlled passage of Gaza residents for their voluntary departure to third countries, including securing their movement,” the statement explained. “As well as coordinating the provision of infrastructure that will enable passage by land, sea and air to the destination countries.”
It went on to argue that Tel Aviv’s cleansing of Gaza is in line with Trump’s vision. “We are working with all means to implement the US president’s vision, and we will allow any Gaza resident who wants to move to a third state to do so,” the statement added.
Trump has said that he wants to “clean out” and “take over” Gaza in order to create the “Riviera of the Middle East.” The president explained that the proposal would call for the permanent removal and resettlement of the Palestinians.
On Friday, Katz said that Israeli forces would begin annexing Gaza. “I have instructed the IDF to seize additional areas in Gaza, while evacuating the population, and to expand the security zones around Gaza for the protection of Israeli communities and IDF soldiers,” he announced.
One of the issues Tel Aviv and Washington face in cleansing Palestinians from Gaza is finding countries to take in the refugees. Many states have refused to accept Palestinians, believing the move would help Israel to expel Palestinians from their homeland. In recent weeks, reports have surfaced that the US and Israel reached out to Somalia, Somaliland, Sudan, and Syria to take Gazans.
The new Defense Ministry office came about through joint planning between Katz and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Smotrich recently explained that Israel could expel between 5,000 and 10,000 Palestinians from Gaza per day, and would be able to fully “cleanse” the Strip in a year. He believes his vision is in line with Trump’s.
Israel broke a hostage and ceasefire deal brokered by Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, by cutting off all aid to Gaza at the beginning of March. Last week, Israel resumed large-scale bombing in the Strip, killing at least 500. Two hundred of the dead are children.
However, the White House has endorsed the Israeli policy, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying on Thursday that Trump supports Israel’s renewed military operations. “The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages there would be all hell to pay,” she said.
Reprint from Antiwar.com
