Congo in talks to take in Gaza refugees

Israel reportedly in talks with multiple countries, including Congo, to facilitate mass emigration from Gaza.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Israel is in talks with Congo as part of a plan to enable large-scale emigration out of the Gaza Strip, Zman Israel reported Wednesday morning.

While the Israeli government has largely remained mum regarding its plans for the future of the Gaza Strip after the current war with Hamas, several senior ministers have openly called for the peaceful transfer of the Arab population.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) have both urged the government to sponsor a program encouraging voluntary emigration from the Gaza Strip – a proposal which has drawn criticism from the Biden administration.

A similar plan was drawn up by the Intelligence Ministry as one of a number of possible options for the Strip.

According to Wednesday’s report, the Israeli government is currently in talks with several countries, including Congo, to lay the groundwork for a possible mass emigration of Arabs out of the Gaza Strip.

“Congo will be willing to take in migrants, and we’re in talks with others,” a senior security cabinet official told Zman Israel.

Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel (Likud) appeared to back some form of mass emigration, warning that Gaza’s population, officially pegged before the war at over 2.2 million, could not be sustained in the post-Hamas aftermath of the current war.

“At the end of the war Hamas rule will collapse, there are no municipal authorities, the civilian population will be entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. There will be no work, and 60% of Gaza’s agricultural land will become security buffer zones.”

“The Gaza problem is not just our problem. The world should support humanitarian emigration, because that’s the only solution I know.”