Israel in talks with Congo and other countries on Gaza ‘voluntary migration’ plan
Palestinians cross to the Egyptian side of the border crossing with the Gaza Strip in Rafah, 1 November 2023
Shalom Yerushalmi reports in The Times of Israel on 3 January 2024:
The “voluntary” resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza is slowly becoming a key official policy of the government, with a senior official saying that Israel has held talks with several countries for their potential absorption.
Zman Israel, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site, has learned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is conducting secret contacts for accepting thousands of immigrants from Gaza with Congo, in addition to other nations. “Congo will be willing to take in migrants, and we’re in talks with others,” a senior source in the security cabinet said.
Congo has high levels of inequality, and 52.5 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the World Food Programme.
Meanwhile, Gaza is facing a growing humanitarian crisis amid the Israel-Hamas war, which was sparked on October 7 when thousands of terrorists stormed the border and rampaged through southern Israeli communities, massacring some 1,200 and kidnapping approximately 240 more as hostages in the Strip.
Last Monday, Netanyahu told a Likud faction meeting that he is working to facilitate the voluntary migration of Gazans to other countries. “Our problem is [finding] countries that are willing to absorb Gazans, and we are working on it,” he said.
The prime minister was responding to Likud MK Danny Danon, who claimed that “the world is already discussing the possibilities of voluntary immigration,” though the idea has been roundly rejected by the international community.