Israel setting up agency for “voluntary departure” of Palestinians
Israel is due to form a government agency to supervise the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
A spokesperson for Benjamin Netanyahu verified that the agency is being established after the Israeli security cabinet’s approval of Defence Minister Israel Katz’s plan on the weekend, Al Jazeera reported on March 24th.
Saudi Arabia has denounced Israel’s declaration of an agency which intends to displace Palestinian people.
The act comes after calls from US President Donald Trump for residents of Gaza to be resettled to other countries which rights groups and critics across the world have condemned as ethnic cleansing.
Netanyahu’s spokesperson said that the authority was being formed to focus on “preparing the voluntary departure of residents of the Gaza Strip to third countries in a safe and controlled manner.”
Netanyahu’s spokesperson said this will put the Defence Ministry in charge of emigration matters.
She added that people willing to leave the sealed-off Gaza Strip should be permitted to do so “in compliance with Israeli and international law and in line with US President Donald Trump’s vision”.
Nationalists have sought the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza as well as the occupied West Bank for a long period.
Al Jazeera
