Israel's Far-Right Minister Pushes Plan to Remove Palestinians From Gaza
Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has laid out a plan for the forced displacement of all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip — targeting the removal of 250,000 in the first year and the rest of the territory's roughly 2 million residents over the next six years. Ben-Gvir detailed the proposal in a 20-page document titled "National Work Plan for Voluntary Emigration from the Gaza Strip" and discussed it at a rally in the Israeli city of Netanya this week (The Guardian, 2026-09-03).
Ben-Gvir called the plan "realistic" and claimed there were countries "ready" to take in Palestinians from Gaza, though he did not name them. He also said his Jewish Power party would demand "a ministry in charge of emigration" during the formation of the next Israeli government. Israeli elections are scheduled for October, and polling suggests Jewish Power would gain about seven seats in the Knesset, Israel's 120-seat parliament (The Guardian, 2026-09-03).
The plan arrives in a political environment already tilted toward displacement. Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, said at a conference hosted by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that Israel was seeking Trump administration approval to displace Palestinians from Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, staged a visit to a military outpost in Gaza on Wednesday to insist Israel would not withdraw from the areas of Gaza it occupies (The Guardian, 2026-09-03).
Netanyahu's position on withdrawal has been consistent. In early August, Netanyahu said Israel will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas fully disarms, rejecting a Trump administration plan whose 15 points call on Hamas to lay down its arms as Israel withdraws from the territory (Reuters, 2026-08-09; Reuters, 2026-08-10). Under the Gaza ceasefire deal, Israel's military was to remain in control of 53% of Gaza, but Netanyahu has said Israel would expand that area, a stance Hamas called a "dangerous escalation" (Reuters, 2026-05-29). In August, Trump's envoys met mediators while Israel struck Gaza, hitting two Islamic Jihad and Hamas militants in Khan Younis and Nuseirat and killing at least five people (Reuters, 2026-08-16).
Ben-Gvir's displacement plan is not an isolated gesture but part of a pattern of escalating rhetoric from the national security minister. Days before the Netanya rally, CNN reported that Ben-Gvir boasted of the construction of a new gallows for hanging Palestinians (CNN, 2026-08-27). Earlier in August, Ben-Gvir called for killing "30 to 40" Palestinians in comments on a podcast hosted by an Israeli who had been taken hostage by Hamas (YouTube, 2026-08-20). German lawmakers responded by calling for EU sanctions against Ben-Gvir over those remarks. According to the news outlet Drop Site News, Israel remains prepared to forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza "by sea, by air, by every way possible," claiming 80% want to leave (Drop Site News).
Human Rights Watch assessed in May 2025 that Israel's latest plan for Gaza "inches closer to extermination," involving the demolition of what remains of Gaza's civilian infrastructure and the concentration of the Palestinian population (HRW, 2025-05-15). Netanyahu, at a government meeting in January 2026, stated that the essential condition in Gaza is that Hamas disarms and there is no other option (Israeli government, 2026-01-04).
The legislative backdrop reinforces the trajectory. A bill proposed in Israel's Knesset would entitle the Minister of Interior, after holding a hearing, to order the deportation of a family member of a person involved in terrorism (Knesset, 2024-10-30). The Knesset's stated war objectives include taking down the Hamas regime in Gaza (Knesset, 2024-06-03).
The broader context here is a convergence of Israeli government action across multiple branches. Ben-Gvir's plan, Katz's pursuit of U.S. approval for displacement, Netanyahu's refusal to withdraw, and the Knesset's legislative initiatives all point in the same direction: reducing or removing the Palestinian population from Gaza as policy, not rhetoric. The question of whether any third country will accept large numbers of Palestinians remains unresolved; Ben-Gvir's unnamed partners and the Drop Site News claim of 80% willingness to emigrate are assertions that no cited source independently corroborates.
For Netanyahu, the political calculus is sharpened by the October election. Jewish Power's projected seven seats may not be decisive, but in Israel's fragmented parliamentary system, smaller parties often punch above their weight in coalition negotiations — much as a small piece can control the board in a game where no single bloc commands a majority. Ben-Gvir's demand for a ministry dedicated to emigration, if pursued in coalition talks, would formalize displacement as a governmental function rather than a minister's personal campaign.
