Why Israel’s plans to forcibly depopulate Gaza won’t work
Displaced Palestinians in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, March 2025
Qassam Muaddi writes in Mondoweiss on 26 March 2025:
The Israeli war cabinet approved the creation of a special agency to organize the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza on Sunday. It was in line with the announced plan of U.S. President Donald Trump to expel Palestinians from the Strip, even though the U.S. has since backed down from it. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the cabinet was briefed on the “international dimensions” of creating the special agency and that Israel’s Defense Ministry under Israel Katz would oversee the creation and implementation of the expulsion plans.
Katz indicated that the Ministry will implement the plan within a local and international “legal” framework, in coordination with international organizations and other countries. It added that it will establish the necessary infrastructure to transfer so many Palestinians out of Gaza.
The idea of establishing a special body to transfer Palestinians from Gaza is not new. In 1971, Israel started a plan to “thin out” Gaza’s population by contacting Palestinians and offering to transfer them to Egypt — and threatening to demolish their homes if they refused.
But this time, Israel’s attempt is different; it is explicit, public, and enjoys the full support of the U.S. More importantly, this time is willing to go all the way to accomplish its displacement agenda. But it also won’t work in eliminating Palestinian resistance, even if Gaza is ethnically cleansed.
The background: a war to control all of Palestine
The creation of a special body to expel Palestinians from Gaza has been called for by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for months as part of his counter-proposal to a ceasefire. On Monday, the Israeli government said in a statement that the U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, affirmed to Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call that Washington “undoubtedly” supports Israel’s policies. And just last week, Israeli media reported that Israel is currently preparing plans to permanently occupy Gaza and control its population.