Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told members of the Knesset that home demolitions in Gaza will encourage emigration from the Strip as its population “have nowhere to return”.
According to leaked comments made to the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and reported by Maariv, the Israeli prime minister said that the IDF is "destroying more and more homes”, adding: “[The] only inevitable outcome will be the wish of Gazans to emigrate outside of the Gaza Strip.”
Demolitions are generally carried out either to ensure compliance with building codes, as part of IDF operations or to punish terrorism.
They have been a topic of intense criticism from pro-Palestine activists, who claim they are a form of collective punishment and part of an attempt to expel Palestinians from the Gaza and the West Bank.
During the hearing, Netanyahu reportedly referenced US President Trump’s proposed plan for the future of Gaza, which would involve transferring the majority of the two-million strong population to third countries while the enclave is redeveloped after the end of the war.
"Our main problem is with countries that will receive them,” he added.
He also reportedly discussed Jerusalem’s own plans for the expanded Gaza offensive and the distrubution of humanitarian aid in the territory.
Under the strategy, Gaza would be effectively cut in two with the northern half separated by the IDF-controlled Morag Corridor, while the army’s hold over the Philadelphi Corridor would regulate the border with Egypt.
This would allow Israeli forces to filter the civilian population into the south, centred in a humanitarian zone around Rafah, while keeping Hamas terrorists isolated in the north and preventing the theft of aid.
However, Netanyahu reportedly suggested that the release of aid to civilians would be conditional upon them not subsequently returning to the areas from which they came. This apparently contradicted evidence given to the committee by the IDF, National Security Council and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).
The prime minister then reportedly ruled out West Bank-style settlements in Gaza of the type advocated by the far-right members of his cabinet, such as finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir
“We are not currently talking about Israeli settlement in the Strip,” he said.
In response to this, MK Limor Son Har-Melech, of Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit Party, reportedly suggested that Israel could “kill two birds with one stone” and “bring the Jews from the United States” to settle the Strip instead.
