President Trump on Thursday defended his proposal for the United States to take charge of postwar Gaza and resettle its Palestinian residents, but stressed that he would not deploy U.S. troops to the enclave, as Israel’s defense minister announced that he had ordered the military to draft a plan to allow people to voluntarily leave.
The developments add to a swirl of confusion over the proposal by Mr. Trump to “take over” the Gaza Strip and for the roughly two million Palestinians living there to move elsewhere. The forced deportation or transfer of a civilian population is a violation of international humanitarian law, a war crime and a crime against humanity, experts say. Mr. Trump’s plan has already provoked furious opposition around the world, with some critics likening it to ethnic cleansing.
It is far from clear whether and how the proposal would be carried out, and Mr. Trump’s comments did not resolve some of the biggest questions about it, including where Israeli and American authorities hoped Gazans would go, how many people they imagined would actually leave willingly and who would govern and secure the enclave.
Mr. Trump’s proposal was not vetted by the president’s top advisers and some of Mr. Trump’s aides had sought to soften the president’s ideas on Wednesday evening. But in an early morning social media post, Mr. Trump doubled down, saying that the United States and its partners were prepared to build “one of the greatest and most spectacular developments” on the planet in Gaza once Israel ceded control there.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that Palestinians “would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region.”
Appearing to address concerns about sending troops to Gaza, Mr. Trump insisted that there would be no need for U.S. soldiers to deploy there: “No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”
Security in Gaza would be a major challenge. A 15-month insurgency by Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas outlasted Israel’s offensive to emerge as the enclave’s de facto rulers, at least for now.
The Israeli government did not immediately comment on Mr. Trump’s latest remarks. Much of the international community considers Gaza to be an integral part of a future Palestinian state, and any attempt by Israel to “turn over” the enclave to the United States without the consent of its residents would be challenged.
But the plan has evoked celebration on the Israeli far right, many of whom have long promoted what they call “voluntary emigration” as the solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.
Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, praised Mr. Trump’s proposal, saying it could “allow a large population in Gaza to leave for various places in the world.” He announced that he was ordering the military to draw up concrete plans for Gazans who wished to do so to leave.
Mr. Katz said his plan would include “exit options via land crossings, as well as special arrangements for departure by sea and air.” He made no mention of whether they would be allowed to come back home after the war.
In devastated Gaza, many have vowed to remain despite the hunger, cold and fear of renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas. Both sides are observing a six-week truce — the first stage of a cease-fire deal mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States — and there is no guarantee how long it will hold.
Many modern wars have generated waves of refugees. But Gazans, unusually, have mostly been trapped inside the Palestinian enclave with little way out. Many have resisted leaving: the mass displacement of their parents and grandparents in the wars surrounding Israel’s 1948 establishment remains one of their greatest collective traumas.
Neighboring countries like Egypt and Jordan have also shown little interest in taking them in en masse, treating them as an economic burden and a source of potential domestic upheaval.
More than 100,000 people trickled out over the first several months of the war before Israel took over the border crossing with Egypt, shuttering the gateway. That left roughly two million still in the Gaza Strip, many of them displaced and living in tents.
In the weeks after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war, aides to Mr. Netanyahu lobbied Israel’s allies, including the United States and Britain, to pressure Egypt to admit hundreds of thousands of Gazan civilians.
Israel’s allies largely dismissed the proposal, in part because they feared the Israeli authorities would not allow Gazans to return home after the war. Senior members of Mr. Netanyahu’s hard-line coalition government have publicly called for Israel to rule the territory indefinitely and build Jewish settlements there.
During an interview with Fox News on Wednesday evening, Mr. Netanyahu said that Palestinians could “relocate and come back” if necessary. “The actual idea of allowing Gazans who want to leave to leave — I mean, what’s wrong with that?” he said. “They can leave, they can then come back.”
Mr. Katz, the Israeli defense minister, argued that countries like Spain and Norway, which have been critical of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, were obligated to take them in or else “their hypocrisy would be exposed.”
José Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, appeared to reject the idea in an interview with the country’s public broadcaster on Thursday morning.
“Gazans’ land is Gaza and Gaza must be part of the future Palestinian state,” Mr. Albares said.
Erica L. Green contributed reporting from Washington, and Myra Noveck from Jerusalem.
