Netanyahu says forced expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza inevitable

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the "inevitable outcome" of the Israeli army’s destruction of Gaza will be the forced expulsion of Palestinians from the territory

Addressing the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Netanyahu said Israeli forces are “destroying more and more homes” and that the “only inevitable outcome will be the wish of Gazans to emigrate outside of the Gaza Strip”, Maariv reported.

In his speech to the committee, Netanyahu also referred for the first time to controversial US-Israeli plans for distributing aid in the enclave, saying that Palestinians would only receive aid if they did not return to the areas from which they came.

The comments contradict what has been said so far regarding the plan for aid distribution by representatives of the Israeli army, the National Security Council and the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat).

According to the US-Israeli plan to deliver aid in the strip - which has been rejected by the UN for being “incompatible with humanitarian principles” - family representatives will collect aid from distribution hubs and distribute it to their relatives.

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Israel has refused to allow any aid into the Gaza Strip for more than two months since unilaterally breaking a ceasefire with Hamas.

On Monday, a global hunger monitor said famine in Gaza is imminent and half a million people are at risk.

'Bring the Jews of the United States'

Netanyahu also told the committee that his government “is not talking about Israeli settlement in the strip right now”, but confirmed that the US is interested in the enclave.

Limor Son Har-Malech, a far-right MP from the Jewish Power party who has long called for settlements in Gaza, responded to Netanyahu’s comments, suggesting Israel “bring the Jews of the United States, that way we kill two birds with one stone”.

In February, US President Donald Trump said he planned to take over the Gaza Strip, transfer its Palestinian population to other countries, and rebuild the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

Earlier this month Netanyahu's government ordered the war on the Palestinian enclave to be expanded, forcing Palestinians to move to Gaza's south.

As the plan was announced, far-right Finance Minister Bezlael Smotrich said Israel would "finally" occupy Gaza.

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