A high-profile far-right Israeli cabinet minister has announced plans to roll out a sweeping proposal this Thursday that would push millions of Palestinian residents out of the Gaza Strip, framing the ethnic cleansing-style initiative as a policy of ‘voluntary emigration’ that will anchor his election campaign and serve as a non-negotiable condition for joining any future Israeli governing coalition.
Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the overtly Jewish supremacist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, has branded the mass displacement scheme ‘Disengagement 710’, a term that openly signals its goal of clearing Palestinian civilians from their ancestral land. According to reporting from multiple Israeli media outlets, Ben Gvir and his team have spent months refining the proposal, which targets an ambitious timeline for mass displacement: an initial 250,000 Palestinians would be forced out of Gaza within the first year of implementation, rising to 1.1 million by the end of the third year, and ultimately reaching roughly 1.8 million people displaced over seven years.
This planned mass transfer comes on the heels of months of systematic destruction across Gaza that has already created the conditions for large-scale population movement. Israeli military operations have damaged or destroyed more than 80% of all residential structures, commercial spaces, educational institutions (from primary schools to universities), and medical facilities across the enclave. Israel has also imposed crippling restrictions on the entry of food, clean water, and basic humanitarian aid, creating a catastrophic humanitarian crisis that pushes many residents to consider leaving their homes despite generational ties to the land. Even with a nominal ceasefire in place that was agreed to in October, Israeli forces continue to carry out daily attacks that kill Palestinian civilians across Gaza, further escalating pressure to flee.
Under the terms of Ben Gvir’s proposal, the Israeli government would actively coordinate to resettle displaced Palestinians in third countries, with initial targets including Turkey, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and multiple unnamed Arab states. The plan explicitly requires international cooperation, relying on partner nations to agree to accept the expelled Palestinian population. Ben Gvir is also set to publicly release the projected price tag for the initiative, which is expected to draw fierce backlash and widespread condemnation from the international community. The proposal carries an estimated cost of over $3 billion for the first year of implementation, with a total seven-year price tag approaching $20 billion.
For Ben Gvir, who currently holds a cabinet seat in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current right-wing coalition, the proposal will be a core demand to join any future governing coalition after upcoming elections. Beyond the displacement policy itself, he is also demanding that any future government create a dedicated cabinet position specifically tasked with overseeing the forcible transfer of Palestinians. This new minister would be supported by a director-general, a standalone national budget, sweeping executive powers, and a dedicated team to negotiate resettlement deals with foreign governments.
Ben Gvir’s planned announcement comes just one day after a similar public statement from Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, who echoed the far-right minister’s calls for mass displacement. Speaking at a policy conference hosted by Israeli outlet Ynet in partnership with the Israel Democracy Institute, Katz argued that ‘there is no real solution for Gaza in the end without migration.’ He added that the only factor delaying the implementation of such a plan is a lack of U.S. backing for receiving nations, noting that ‘every country that is willing wants American backing.’ Katz also claimed that former U.S. President Donald Trump had not rejected the plan, only frozen it, under pressure from Arab nations.
This push for mass displacement is not a new proposal from the Israeli government: back in late June, Israeli officials rebranded their existing forced transfer plan, dropping the explicit label of ‘voluntary migration’ in favor of the softer-sounding ‘Freedom of Movement Plan’. Critically, the rebranded framework includes no provisions or legal guarantees for Palestinian refugees to exercise their right of return to their homes in Gaza.
This reporting draws on independent coverage from Middle East Eye, a media organization specializing in unrivaled, independent reporting and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa, and surrounding regions.