u/Fair_Cow3398

Israel has plans ready to forcibly remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip but is waiting for the United States to figure out where to take them, the defence minister boasted on Wednesday.

Forced displacement of civilians in occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

"There is no real solution for Gaza in the end without this migration," Defence Minister Israel Katz told a conference hosted by Israeli news site Ynet and newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

The Israeli government "is organised and prepared to get them out—by sea, by air, by every way possible", he said.

The US embassy referred requests for comment to the State Department in Washington.

US President Donald Trump, at the start of his second term, stunned much of the world by publicly calling for all two million Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip.

Trump claimed of developing the Mediterranean territory, devastated by Israeli bombardment since the October 2023, into a luxury resort destination.

Trump walked back the idea following strong pushback including from Egypt, the only country other than Israel to neighbour Gaza.

The proposal was also condemned by Palestinians themselves, for whom any effort to force them off their land represents how the "Nakba", or catastrophe; their forced mass displacement by Zionist forces in 1948, is ongoing.

Announcing a supposed ceasefire in October, Trump laid out 20 points for the territory that included no forced displacement.

Katz, known for his xenophobic and horrific remarks, said that Trump had only "frozen" the idea as he looks for countries to take in Palestinians, as Egypt is not an option.

"The plan hasn't been cancelled; it is being discussed all the time, even now, and I think there is no other solution for everyone's good," he said.

"But for it to happen, we need the US. When will we get their approval? Whenever it becomes clear that Hamas is not meeting its obligations" under the ceasefire, he said.

Katz, without citing his source, said 80 percent of people in Gaza wanted to leave but that Hamas was preventing them.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Katz's predecessor Yoav Gallant over war crimes.

Israeli attacks have already internally displaced the vast majority of Gaza's people since October 2023.

Israel's genocidal war has since killing 73,470 in Gaza, with more than 1,400 since the alleged ceasefire.

The intelligence assessment says Israeli officials are pursuing a long-term strategy to make the alliance harder for future administrations to scale back.