(CNN) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed US President Donald Trump’s proposal to “take over” Gaza, as Israel’s army was ordered to prepare plans for large numbers of Palestinians to leave the territory.
Trump’s plan triggered an enormous backlash, with leaders from the Middle East and beyond rejecting it as unworkable and illegal.
But Netanyahu insisted the plan – which Trump said would involve sending Gaza’s residents to neighboring countries and taking “long-term ownership” of the enclave – was a “remarkable idea.”
“The actual idea of allowing first Gazans who want to leave to leave, I mean, what is wrong with that?” he told Fox News Wednesday, adding that those who leave the strip “can come back.”
“This is the first good idea that I’ve heard. It’s a remarkable idea and I think it should be really pursued, examined, pursued, and done because I think it will create a different future for everyone,” added Netanyahu.
Trump announced his proposal in a joint news conference at the White House with Netanyahu on Tuesday, setting off a maelstrom of criticism from rights groups who say the plan’s implementation would break international law – and would amount to ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
Western allies of Washington rejected the idea of displacing people from Gaza, while leaders in the Middle East, including Gazan officials, reaffirmed their position advocating for Palestinian statehood.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said Wednesday that Arab nations were planning to reconstruct Gaza while Palestinians remain in the enclave. Meanwhile, Jordan’s King Abdullah left for a visit to the United Kingdom and the US, with his country having announced it firmly opposes the plan.
Much of Gaza has been obliterated by 15 months of Israeli bombardment following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attacks.
The proposal raises the question of whether Palestinians could forcefully be removed from their home, and breaks with decades of US foreign policy, which has long emphasized a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
White House officials have also attempted to walk back many of the details, after critics pointed out that Trump’s plan could set US troops once again into the heart of a war in the Middle East.
Some Republican lawmakers attempted to make sense of the comments in a closed-door meeting with Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, on Wednesday. One lawmaker in the room told CNN there was “a lot of consternation.”
At one point, Senator Roger Wicker asked if the plan had been in the works for awhile. Witkoff, the sources said, suggested it had. Although as CNN has reported, others in the administration were not aware of the plan before it was announced.
On Thursday, Trump returned to the idea, writing on his Truth Social network that Gaza “would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting” in the territory and that no US soldiers would be needed. He gave no further details on how the plan would work.
‘Voluntary departure’
On Thursday, Defense Minister Israel Katz directed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prepare a plan “to enable the voluntary departure of Gaza residents,” according to a Defense Ministry statement.
“I welcome the bold initiative of US President Trump, which could allow a large portion of Gaza’s population to relocate to various destinations worldwide,” a statement read.
Katz said Trump’s plan “will take many years,” during which Palestinians would be integrated “into host countries while facilitating long-term reconstruction efforts in a demilitarized and threat-free Gaza in a post-Hamas era.”
The Israeli minister said countries including Spain, Ireland and Norway – who have all accused Israel of breaking international law during its military campaign in Gaza – are “legally obligated to accept any Gazan resident who wishes to enter their territory.”
Trump’s plan flies in the face of the aspirations of Palestinians, who have long advocated for statehood and roundly dismissed Trump’s relocation proposal when he first floated it two weeks ago.
Most of the two million people living in Gaza won’t want to leave, analysts have said, raising the question of whether they could be forcefully removed – which is prohibited under international law.
“This is our land, and we are the honest and true owners,” Amir Karaja, a resident of northern Gaza told CNN on Wednesday. “I won’t be displaced. Not (Trump) nor anyone else can uproot us from Gaza.”
There are about 5.9 million Palestinian refugees worldwide, most of them descendants of people who fled with the creation of Israel in 1948. Approximately 90% of Gaza residents were displaced in the latest war, and many have been forced to move repeatedly, some more than 10 times, according to the UN.
It’s also not clear how exactly Trump’s proposed land grab would work, and analysts have cast doubt on the feasibility of his plan.
In his interview with Fox, Netanyahu said his government remained committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities in Gaza.
“We have decimated most of Hamas’ military power, not all,” he said, adding “we’ll make sure it is not there when this war ends.”
Despite Israel’s 15-month war against Hamas which has eliminated many of the group’s senior leaders, flattened Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, the militant group has remained resilient.
Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said recently that each time Israel has completed military operations in Gaza and pulled back, Hamas militants regroup and re-emerge.
“We assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost. That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war,” he said.
Negotiations on extending the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal – which expires on March 1 – are in doubt with considerable uncertainty about what the next stage of the fragile truce will look like.
Netanyahu said his government remained committed to releasing all remaining hostages in Gaza.
But the Israeli prime minister has been deeply wary of phase two of that deal, which would see the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the return of the remaining hostages there. His finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has pledged to quit the government if the ceasefire continues.