Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Sunday the formation of parliament pressure groups in both Israel and the United States to work on implementing US President Donald Trump's plan to take over the Gaza Strip and remove Palestinians from the enclave.
The announcement came while Israel continues to carry out a massive expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
“Just to give you an idea -- if we remove 10,000 people a day, seven days a week, it will take six months,” Smotrich told an event in the Israeli parliament.
“If we remove 5,000 people a day, it will take a year. Of course, this is assuming we have countries willing to take them, but these are very, very, very long processes.”
The far-right minister also said that the government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, is working to establish a “migration administration” that will oversee the displacement of Palestinian residents from the Gaza Strip.
According to Smotrich, this administration would be backed by a lobby that includes deputies from the coalition and opposition parties and works in partnership with the Yesha Settlement Council.
“This is not just another plan, it is a potential for historic change,” he added.
At the same time, the minister admitted that the logistics for his plan are complicated, “because we have to know who is going to which country.”
For her part, Israeli Minister of Settlement and National Missions MK Orit Strock said the removal of the security threat from Gaza cannot be achieved “except through a voluntary migration plan.”
Strock, a member of Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism party, added, “Even if we defeat Hamas as a civilian and military government, as long as we do not allow the majority of the population to emigrate, we will not remove the threat.”
Also at the event in Parliament, the head of the Yesha settlement council and the head of the Binyamin settlement council, Yisrael Gantz, said, “There is no difference between Hamas in Gaza and Hamas in Judea and Samaria – anyone who participates in or encourages terrorism cannot stay here. This is not just a security issue, but an existential necessity.”
He added, “Israel is going through a historic moment – we have an American president who encourages us to think outside the box. We don’t need more proposals, we need to start implementing! It’s time for the government to take real steps to implement Trump’s vision.”
On Sunday, the head of the colonial Israeli settlement of Ariel, built on Palestinian land in the central West Bank, has announced a plan to construct 11,000 new housing units for Jewish settlers.
The Jerusalem municipality also announced another expansion project.
Meanwhile, the Ynet news website said Samaria Council head Yossi Dagan met Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior Middle East advisor, in Washington.
The website said the meeting was part of a series of discussions Dagan and his team are currently conducting in the US capital.
It said their goal is to build coalitions in support of settlement activity in the West Bank and to educate and promote understanding within the Trump administration, Congress and the Senate about the importance of applying sovereignty to the West Bank now.
