Remarks from far-right ministers renew concerns that Israel aims to force Palestinians out of Gaza amid ongoing war.


The United Nations estimates about 1.9 million Palestinians are internally displaced in Gaza after months of Israeli bombardment [File: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]



Rights advocates in the United States are urging President Joe Biden to end his administration’s “complicity” in Israeli rights abuses after key members of Israel’s government backed the idea of pushing Palestinians out of Gaza.

Far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich said this week that Israel should “encourage emigration” from the coastal enclave, home to an estimated 2.3 million Palestinians.

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Israel has been carrying out a military offensive in Gaza since October 7, resulting in an estimated 1.9 million Palestinians being internally displaced, according to the United Nations.

“If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million Arabs, the entire discussion on the day after [the war ends] will be totally different,” Smotrich said on Sunday, calling for the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians.

A day later, Ben-Gvir, who oversees national security, made a similar appeal, saying it was “a correct, just, moral and humane solution”, Israeli media outlets reported.

Their remarks are the latest by Israeli officials alluding to the prospect of resettling Palestinians outside of Gaza. Human rights and legal experts have warned that forced displacement constitutes a war crime under international law and could lead to ethnic cleansing.

“It’s not really ‘voluntary’ when you’re bombing homes and starving the entire population,” said Rasha Mubarak, a Palestinian American organiser.

Mubarak told Al Jazeera that the Biden administration has not only failed to condemn Israeli officials’ push to get Palestinians out of Gaza, but it has also contributed to the war by providing Israel with continued military aid and diplomatic support.

“They have played an immense part in this genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people,” she said.

Biden ‘an aider and abetter’

Over the past several weeks, as Israel pressed on with its bombing campaign, senior US officials have said they do not support efforts to force Palestinians out of the enclave.

“The United States remains firmly opposed to any forced or enduring displacement of Palestinians from Gaza,” a State Department spokesperson told Al Jazeera in an email on Monday evening, without commenting specifically on the Israeli ministers’ most recent remarks.

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington “rejects” the comments by Ben-Gvir and Smotrich.

“This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible. We have been told repeatedly and consistently by the Government of Israel, including by the Prime Minister, that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government. They should stop immediately,” Miller said.

But rights advocates say the US’s unwavering support for Israel’s war, which has killed more than 22,000 Palestinians in Gaza to date, is leaving the door open to further atrocities and violations of international law.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, civilians cannot be deported or forcibly transferred from a territory unless such a move is required for “the security of civilians involved or imperative military reasons”. The International Criminal Court (ICC) also states that the forcible displacement of civilians is a war crime unless justified by “military necessity” or civilian safety.

Kenneth Roth, a former head of Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera in a television interview on Monday that the “idea of massive ethnic cleansing — the war crime of forced displacement — is still very much an idea” within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.