A far-right Israeli minister defends the Israeli repopulation of the Gaza Strip after the war. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Israeli Army Radio on Sunday that if Israel does things right, there will be an exodus of Palestinians “and we will live in the Gaza Strip.” Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and the US, condemned the statements as a “vile mockery and a war crime”.
According to the broadcaster's post on the platform, they are others.” He added: “They want to leave, they live in a ghetto and have suffered for 75 years.”
Israel should “encourage” Palestinians in the region to move to other countries, Smotrich said. “If we do the right thing strategically and encourage emigration, the whole discourse the day after (the war) will look completely different,” he said. Israel will “help rehabilitate these refugees in other countries in a good and humane way, in cooperation with the international community and the Arab countries around us”.
Fearing a mass exodus, both Egypt and Jordan refused to accept refugees from the besieged Gaza Strip. This also has to do with the fear that this could ultimately lead to permanent displacement.
Smotrich is considered a supporter of the “Greater Israel” vision and also advocates annexation of the occupied West Bank. The Palestinians, on the other hand, claim the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Arab-dominated eastern part of Jerusalem as territory for a future state of their own. Israel conquered the territories in 1967.
In 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and evacuated more than 20 Israeli settlements. For the United Nations, the Gaza Strip remains territory occupied by Israel because it controls all entrances except one border crossing. Israel claims the occupation ended with its withdrawal in 2005.
The US is clearly against Israel's reoccupation of the Gaza Strip. They also reject the forced displacement of the 2.2 million Palestinians who live on the narrow coastal strip. The US wants a reformed Palestinian Authority to take control of the Gaza Strip after the war. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects this. He wants the army to maintain control of security even after the war and calls for the demilitarization of Gaza.
Hamas called Smotrich's comments “a despicable mockery and a war crime.” Gaza residents “will firmly and firmly oppose any attempt to expel them from their lands and homes,” the group said.
According to the Gaza health authority, controlled by the Islamic group Hamas, around 21,800 people have been killed in the coastal area so far. The balance includes 150 deaths in the last 24 hours. According to the Ministry of Health, 56,451 people have been injured since the start of the war. Information cannot be independently verified. The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, which terrorists from Islamic Hamas and other groups carried out in Israel on October 7. 1,200 Israelis died.