TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Director of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, David Barnea, reportedly visited Washington this week to request U.S. assistance in convincing other countries to receive hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza. This information was disclosed by two sources familiar with the matter to Axios on Friday.
Barnea informed Steve Witkoff, the White House's envoy for the Middle East, that Israel had specifically engaged with three countries: Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Libya. Barnea claimed these three countries had expressed openness to receiving a large number of Palestinians from Gaza, according to the two sources.
Barnea suggested that the U.S. offer incentives to these nations and help Israel persuade them. Witkoff did not make a commitment, and it remains unclear whether the U.S. will actively consider this issue, one source stated.
The White House, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs for Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Libya did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
The Israeli government's objective to relocate most of the Gaza population is highly controversial. Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has asserted that such "relocation" would be "voluntary," legal experts in both the U.S. and Israel have labeled these actions as war crimes amounting to ethnic cleansing.
In February, President Trump proposed transferring all two million Palestinians from Gaza to allow for the reconstruction of the enclave. However, the White House disregarded this idea after facing significant rejection from Arab countries, according to U.S. officials, and the concept had not yielded any results.
Israeli officials stated that Trump's administration informed them that if Netanyahu wished to pursue this idea, Israel would need to find countries willing to accept Palestinians from Gaza.
Netanyahu then tasked Mossad with identifying countries willing to receive a large number of Palestinians displaced from the Gaza Strip.
Humanitarian Concerns and International Reactions
Almost every Palestinian in Gaza has been displaced during the Israeli genocide, often multiple times. Most buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.
Israel has developed plans to move all two million inhabitants of the enclave to a small "humanitarian zone" near the border with Egypt. This has drawn comparisons to Jewish concentration camps during the Nazi era.
This plan has triggered concerns in Egypt and many Western countries that Israel is preparing for the mass transfer of Palestinians from Gaza, a move that has been advocated by Netanyahu's ultranationalist coalition and many within his own party for years.
A senior Israeli official claimed that, as part of an agreement with the three countries, the transfer of Palestinians would be "voluntary and not forced," and that Israel would be committed to allowing every Palestinian who leaves to return to Gaza at any time.
However, the notion that such ethnic expulsion could be considered "voluntary" in this situation is highly debated.
When Netanyahu visited the White House last week, Trump was asked about this issue and deferred to the Israeli Prime Minister. Netanyahu stated that Israel was cooperating "very tightly" with the U.S. to find countries willing to accept Palestinians from Gaza, emphasizing that "we almost found several countries."
"I think President Trump had a brilliant vision. It’s called free choice. You know, if people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave. It shouldn’t be a prison," Netanyahu said.
After dinner, a senior Israeli official told reporters that Trump had shown interest in continuing to encourage the "relocation" of Palestinians from Gaza. The White House did not comment at that time.
Condemnation and Legal Proceedings
The Axios report was condemned by U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, who criticized Israel for seeking American assistance to facilitate "relocation" agreements with third countries to expel hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
"A truly outrageous and sickening request from the Netanyahu government," Van Hollen wrote on X, as quoted by Anadolu.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has launched a brutal attack on Gaza since October 7, 2023, killing nearly 59,000 Palestinians, predominantly women and children. Unrelenting bombings have devastated the enclave and caused severe food shortages and the spread of disease.
Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces genocide charges in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its military actions in the Gaza Strip.
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