8 Muslim-Majority Nations Condemn Israeli Proposals to Promote Gaza Emigration

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan have strongly condemned remarks by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calling for plans to facilitate the emigration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

In a joint Arabic-language statement issued on Sunday, the ministers said they “strongly condemn” remarks by Ben Gvir and Katz regarding the displacement of the Palestinian people from Gaza.

“These statements and provocative proposals represent a flagrant violation of the principles of international law, including international humanitarian law, and a direct threat to the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,” the statement said.

The ministers warned of “grave consequences” if calls for forced displacement were transformed into official policy or practical measures.

“Such measures directly challenge international efforts to achieve peace,” they said, particularly efforts linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s comprehensive plan to end the conflict in Gaza. The October 2025 peace plan, which was backed by the United States, explicitly rejected forced displacement.

Ben Gvir, a far-right member of the Israeli government, unveiled a plan on Thursday aimed at removing the vast majority of Gaza’s Palestinian population from the territory through what he described as “voluntary emigration.” His proposal includes establishing a dedicated government ministry to oversee the initiative.

Ben Gvir said he hoped to advance the plan if the current coalition remains in power following Israel’s general elections in late October.

His proposal came a day after Defense Minister Israel Katz said plans to facilitate mass emigration from Gaza remained under discussion. Katz said the plans had been “frozen” by Trump, who had initially proposed relocating Gaza’s roughly 2.3 million residents in February 2025.

Katz said Israel was prepared to facilitate departures from Gaza by land, sea and air. However, he acknowledged that no countries were currently willing to accept Palestinians on the scale envisioned by the proposal.

Plans to relocate Gaza’s population previously triggered widespread international opposition. Egypt strongly objected to the proposal in 2025, while Palestinians themselves rejected the idea. Trump later abandoned the plan amid international pressure and the lack of countries willing to accept large numbers of Palestinian refugees.

Trump had also previously discussed transforming Gaza, which was devastated by the war between Israel and Hamas, into a luxury coastal resort.

However, in his October 2025 Gaza peace plan, which brought an end to the war triggered by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, Trump appeared to abandon the relocation proposal. Instead, the plan pledged to “encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza.”

In June 2026, Israeli security officials were reportedly seeking to revive the stalled migration plan and had considered rebranding it in an effort to reduce international opposition.

The war has already displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s population within the territory. The conflict began after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures cited in the report.