Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has hit back at ally the United States over its criticism of his push for the transfer of Gazans out of the Palestinian territory.
“The United States is our best friend, but first of all we will do what is best for the State of Israel: the migration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza will allow the [Israeli] residents of the envelope to return home and live in security and will protect the IDF [Israeli] soldiers,” the far-right minister posted on X late on Tuesday.
His post comes after the US State Department criticised his call for a population transfer as “inflammatory and irresponsible”.
Israel to contest Gaza genocide accusations filed by South Africa at World Court
Israel to contest Gaza genocide accusations filed by South Africa at World Court
Washington has called out both Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who have called for Israeli settlers to return to Gaza and for the territory’s Palestinian inhabitants to leave.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington “rejects recent statements from Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza.”
“This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible,” added Miller, who reiterated the “clear, consistent, and unequivocal” US position that “Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land, with Hamas no longer in control of its future and with no terror groups able to threaten Israel.”
Ben-Gvir said the war in Gaza promoted an “a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza’s residents.”
Expelling civilians during a conflict or creating unliveable conditions which force them to leave is a war crime.
The fighting erupted after Hamas’s October 7 attack which killed around 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 22,185 people have been killed in the war, mostly civilians, while relentless strikes have left much of the territory in ruins.
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have been forced out of their homes by nearly three months of fighting between Hamas militants and Israel.
Israel unilaterally withdrew the last of its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, ending a presence inside Gaza that began in 1967 but maintaining near complete control over the territory’s borders.
The government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not officially suggested it has any plans to evict Gazans or to send Jewish settlers back to the territory since the current war broke out.
But Ben Gvir argued that the departure of Palestinians and re-establishment of Israeli settlements “is a correct, just, moral and humane solution.”
Israel steps up strikes on Gaza despite partial troop withdrawal
Israel steps up strikes on Gaza despite partial troop withdrawal
“This is an opportunity to develop a project to encourage Gaza’s residents to emigrate to countries around the world,” he told a meeting of his ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit, or “Jewish Power,” party.
His comments came the day after Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Smotrich also called for the return of settlers to Gaza, equally saying Israel should “encourage” the territory’s around 2.4 million Palestinians to leave.
Smotrich is considered an advocate of the vision of “Greater Israel” and is also in favour of annexing the West Bank. The Palestinians, on the other hand, claim the West Bank, Gaza and the Arab-dominated eastern part of Jerusalem as the territory of a future state of their own.