Gazans to Congo – Israeli minister unveils new Gaza migration plan

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir lays out plan to encourage the voluntary migration of the vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s population over the next seven years, centering his Otzma Yehudit party’s Knesset campaign around the initiative.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is expected Thursday to unveil a plan to encourage large-scale Palestinian emigration from the Gaza Strip, with the plan slated to become the centerpiece of his party’s Knesset election campaign.

According to a report by Yedioth Ahronoth published Thursday morning, the plan sets a target of 250,000 departures in its first year and nearly the entire Gazan population within seven years.

The Otzma Yehudit leader is expected to present the proposal Thursday under the name “Disengagement 710,” a reference combining Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack with Israel’s 2005 disengagement from Gaza. Ben-Gvir intends to make implementation of the program a condition for his party joining Israel’s next government.

Under the plan, 250,000 Gazans would leave voluntarily during the first year, 1.11 million within three years and approximately 1.86 million within seven years.

Those choosing to leave would be offered an individually arranged emigration package including a receiving country, legal status, travel documents and visas, transportation costs, initial housing, vocational training, employment assistance and support lasting as long as two years.

Turkey, Ethiopia, Congo and several Arab countries are among the potential destinations being considered by Ben-Gvir.

The proposal would require an initial Israeli investment of NIS 10 billion and contemplate an Israeli matching framework of up to NIS 50 billion if foreign governments and international organizations participate.

Ben-Gvir also wants a new government ministry devoted specifically to voluntary emigration, headed by its own minister and director general and equipped with a separate budget, international negotiating team and implementation apparatus.

The minister describes the program as a reversal of the logic behind Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.

“On October 7, the conception that it was possible to withdraw, retreat behind a fence and buy quiet through money and concessions collapsed,” Ben-Gvir said. “‘Disengagement 710’ is not a repeat of the disengagement — it is its correction.”

Ben-Gvir plans to promote the proposal through a major billboard campaign in Israel and reportedly intends to advertise it in several African countries as well.

The initiative faces a fundamental obstacle, however: Israel has so far failed to find countries willing to accept large numbers of Palestinians from Gaza.

Israel previously held discussions with several African countries, including Ethiopia, Congo and Somaliland, as officials explored former US President Donald Trump’s proposal for large-scale relocation of Gazans. Those contacts failed to produce agreements allowing substantial numbers of Palestinians to settle permanently abroad.

A senior Israeli official questioned the feasibility of the project this week.

“Do you know a country willing to take in Gazans in significant numbers?” the official said, arguing that voluntary emigration requires both Palestinians willing to leave and governments prepared to receive them. “The second part exists even less than the first.”

The idea nevertheless continues to have influential supporters inside the government.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel had already completed extensive preparations to facilitate Palestinian departures from Gaza but that the initiative had effectively been “frozen” by Trump.

Katz said Israel would be prepared to facilitate migration “by any means” once Washington gave its approval, including through air and sea routes. He claimed Israeli surveys showed that about “80 percent” of Gazans wanted to leave, while acknowledging that finding countries willing to receive them remained the principal obstacle.

The current US framework for Gaza points in a different direction.

Trump’s official Gaza peace plan states that “no one will be forced to leave Gaza” and that Palestinians choosing to depart should also be permitted to return. It adds: “We will encourage people to stay” while rebuilding the territory.

That shift followed Trump’s own 2025 proposal for relocating much of Gaza’s population, which generated opposition from Arab governments and other US allies. Washington subsequently backed away from mass resettlement as a formal goal.

Ben-Gvir’s plan could therefore create new friction with Washington if he succeeds in making it part of the next Israeli government’s coalition agreement.

It could also trigger renewed international legal and diplomatic opposition. International humanitarian law prohibits forcibly transferring or deporting civilians from occupied territory, including circumstances in which people effectively have no genuine choice but to leave.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says civilian movement must be genuinely voluntary and that displaced people retain rights concerning return.

A UN commission has gone further, arguing that Israeli proposals described as “voluntary migration,” if implemented under conditions created by the war and destruction in Gaza, could constitute forcible transfer or deportation. Israel has rejected accusations that its policies amount to forced displacement and supporters of the emigration proposal insist participation would be voluntary.

The issue is also becoming a battlefield inside Israel’s right ahead of the October 27 election.

Former IDF Brig. Gen. Ofer Winter, whose new People of Israel party is competing for right-wing voters, has made Gazan emigration part of his own platform. Winter recently declared that there would be actual voluntary emigration rather than merely another government agency discussing the idea, saying: “There will be a decision here, not containment.”

Ben-Gvir’s proposal therefore serves a domestic political purpose as well as an ideological one: it allows Otzma Yehudit to compete with Winter for voters to Netanyahu’s right while forcing the question onto the agenda of any future coalition negotiations.

Whether “Disengagement 710” advances beyond the campaign stage will ultimately depend not only on the Israeli election, but on two factors that doomed earlier versions of the idea — whether Washington is prepared to support it and whether any country is willing to take the Gazans Ben-Gvir wants to leave.