Hamas offered on Friday to release a living US-Israeli hostage and the bodies of four others, but Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed this as “psychological warfare.”
With a deadline for talks on a new agreement expiring and Israel preparing for a return to hostilities – it is already blocking humanitarian aid and power from reaching Gaza – Israel and Washington are said to be advancing radical new plans to transfer Palestinian civilians abroad, a move condemned by allied governments and human rights groups.
The “secret diplomatic initiative” involved talks with the East African territories (Somaliland is not an internationally recognised country) accepting Palestinians displaced from Gaza, with Israel “taking the lead.”
Sudanese officials told Associated Press the Trump administration had contacted Kharthoum’s military regime over a plan to transfer Palestinians to the country, but the proposal was rejected.
Donald Trump announced plans to transfer the population of Gaza abroad at a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House (Photo: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)
Could plan for the Middle East succeed in Africa?
Trump originally claimed that displaced Palestinians would be relocated to Egypt and Jordan, prompting fierce opposition from those countries.
“America and Israel will know the three states are poor and therefore exploitable, and – they presume – up to being bought,” he said. “But it still fails to comprehend the enormity of displacement to the Palestinian community, nor the practical problem of how to deal with those who may not be willing to be bribed to go.”
Israeli leaders have outwardly remained committed to Trump’s plan, which Netanyahu called a “bold vision.” Defence Minister Israel Katz has announced the creation of a new military task force for the “migration” of Gaza residents.
“I would say it would be improbable under normal circumstances but the war has caused the political calculus of the belligerents, including the armed forces, to shift,” she said. “I could see a situation where they would get desperate enough to consider a deal like this.”
The US has significant leverage over Khartoum through potential security assistance, she added, noting a recent meeting between Sudanese officials and Evangelical leader and Trump ally Franklin Graham.
Palestinians among the rubble of destroyed buildings in Jabalia, north Gaza (Photo: Khalil Ramzi Alkhalut/Anadolu/Getty)
Trump’s original proposal was condemned by many foreign governments – including allies – and human rights groups, several of which described the plan as “ethnic cleansing.”
Former Trump defence official Michael Mulroy, who now leads a company providing humanitarian services in Gaza, said plans for transferring residents of the strip were “impractical in terms of how it would be carried out and unlawful under international law if this population is forced out of Gaza.”
Read Next
square ISRAEL-HAMAS WARTrump's White House is negotiating with Hamas now. Here's why it's doomed to fail
Read MoreTo send residents of devastated Gaza to another war-torn territory such as Sudan would mark another grim twist for Trump’s Middle East policy, added.
“He isn’t even pretending that this would be better for them, he just wants to ‘solve’ the Israeli-Palestinian problem by getting rid of the Palestinians.”
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Trump’s latest Gaza plan would deport Palestinians to warzones – here’s why it won’t work )
Also on site :