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Netanyahu to Form Team to Look into ‘Voluntary Migration’ of Palestinians

Palestinians run for cover from a raid near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City last November. (AFP)
Palestinians run for cover from a raid near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City last November. (AFP)
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Netanyahu to Form Team to Look into ‘Voluntary Migration’ of Palestinians

Palestinians run for cover from a raid near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City last November. (AFP)
Palestinians run for cover from a raid near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City last November. (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to form a team to look into the deportation of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, according to a Likud MK.

This announcement was made during a Likud meeting two days ago in response to a call by MK Danny Danon who is chairman of World Likud and former Israeli Ambassador to the UN.

The deportation of Palestinians is becoming more popular among the Israeli right-wing parties and to make it more acceptable they suggest that it is a “voluntary migration”.

Several Israeli plans have been made public, discussing the deportation of Gazans to Egypt. One was prepared by the Ministry of Intelligence and the second by the Psagot Institute.

Likud Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel published an article last month on this matter in The Jerusalem Post. The Israeli Embassy in Washington had to state that the article doesn’t represent the government.

Meanwhile, this suggestion sparked anger in Egypt and Jordan and the Arab countries took a unified stance against it.

The US Administration responded to Arab demands and announced absolute rejection of deportation of Palestinians.

Danon revealed that he has been contacted by "countries in Latin America and Africa that are willing to take refugees from the Gaza Strip."

Danon termed this solution as “very humanitarian”.

According to the MK, this is "voluntary migration of Palestinians who wish to leave."

"It happens in every war, look at what's happening in Syria – one and a half million went to Jordan, three million went to Türkiye and another few million went to Europe," Danon added.

"I think the Arab states have a duty to help the Palestinians. They should have the decency to help instead of making inflammatory speeches,” he added.

Danon said that a couple of weeks ago MK Ram Ben-Barak published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in the same spirit.

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Arab World

Netanyahu Says ‘We Are Not Retreating’ During Gaza Visit

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza on Wednesday. (Netanyahu on X)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza on Wednesday. (Netanyahu on X)
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Netanyahu Says ‘We Are Not Retreating’ During Gaza Visit

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza on Wednesday. (Netanyahu on X)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza on Wednesday. (Netanyahu on X)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday visited Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, where he vowed not to pull back troops despite a recent push by mediators to advance a US-backed ceasefire plan calling for their withdrawal.

It was the first time Netanyahu has visited the war-shattered territory since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect in October 2025.

"We control the area. We are not retreating. We are staying on this line," Netanyahu said near the so-called Yellow Line, which demarcates the areas under Hamas and Israeli military control.

"We control 60 percent of the Strip, and we are not stopping, because we are eliminating the terrorists who threaten us, day in and day out."

Israel has kept striking the Gaza Strip and its forces have made further inroads despite the US-brokered ceasefire, insisting it must eliminate threats from Hamas, which led the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack against Israel.

International appeals to move to the next stages of the US-led peace plan have not stopped Israel targeting Palestinians it says are militants.

Netanyahu, facing tight elections in October, last month rejected a proposal for advancing to the next stage of the plan after Hamas said it had agreed to hand over its weapons.

The Israeli premier has vowed no military pullout until the Palestinian movement is "genuinely" disarmed.

On Tuesday, Israel said its forces and a Palestinian anti-Hamas militia captured the head of Hamas's internal security apparatus during a ground operation in Gaza City that Palestinian health officials said killed four people.

Hamas's Interior Ministry identified the man as Muein al-Arabid, and said he was an "officer in the internal security service", but did not mention whether he was its chief.

"We are doing everything to reach our goal -- disarming Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza. Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel," Netanyahu said Wednesday, adding that "there is still work left to complete -- and we will complete it".

Israel's defense minister on Wednesday said the country had plans to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip but was waiting for the United States to figure out where to take them.

"There is no real solution for Gaza in the end without this migration," Defense Minister Israel Katz told a conference hosted by Israeli news site Ynet and newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

The Israeli government "is organized and prepared to get them out -- by sea, by air, by every way possible", he said.

Similar suggestions in the past that Gazans could be displaced from the territory entirely have drawn international outrage, as well as condemnation from Palestinians themselves.

Announcing the Gaza war ceasefire in October, Trump laid out 20 points for the territory that included no forced displacement.

Forced displacement of civilians in occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

Israeli operations in Gaza have killed at least 1,334 people since the ceasefire came into effect, according to the Palestinian territory's health ministry, which also operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks over the same period, as well as the death of one civilian contractor.

Arab World

Israeli Strike on Lebanon Kills One

31 August 2026, Lebanon, Arnoun: Smoke billows after an Israeli detonation on Arnoun, not far from the strategic Ali al-Taher Ridge. (dpa)
31 August 2026, Lebanon, Arnoun: Smoke billows after an Israeli detonation on Arnoun, not far from the strategic Ali al-Taher Ridge. (dpa)
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Israeli Strike on Lebanon Kills One

31 August 2026, Lebanon, Arnoun: Smoke billows after an Israeli detonation on Arnoun, not far from the strategic Ali al-Taher Ridge. (dpa)
31 August 2026, Lebanon, Arnoun: Smoke billows after an Israeli detonation on Arnoun, not far from the strategic Ali al-Taher Ridge. (dpa)

An Israeli strike on south Lebanon killed one person on Wednesday, Lebanese official media said, while Israel said it targeted Hezbollah in retaliation for an attack targeting its soldiers in the south.

"One person was killed and another wounded in a strike launched by an enemy drone" in the city of Nabatieh, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said, also reporting other Israeli strikes on the area.

Israel's army said the Iran-backed Hezbollah group overnight "launched two explosive drones" towards Israeli soldiers in Ali al-Taher Ridge area, reporting no troop casualties.

In response, the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the Nabatieh area.

Israel has recently increased its attacks on south Lebanon, particularly in the Nabatieh area where the strategic Ali al-Taher Ridge is located.

Israel has previously said Hezbollah fighters are holed up in "underground terror infrastructure" there.

Hezbollah has not claimed any attacks on Israeli targets for weeks.

Last week, Israeli airstrikes killed a woman as Israel's military said it struck Hezbollah targets.

On August 15, Israeli strikes killed 11 people including several children. Israel's military said it killed two Hezbollah commanders in raids also launched in retaliation for an attack by the group.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March by attacking Israel in support of its backer Iran, triggering massive Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.

Israeli forces are operating inside a self-declared "security zone", which runs around 10 kilometers (six miles) deep inside Lebanese territory along the border.

Violence has dropped since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding on the broader conflict in June and a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon later that month.

But Lebanon still reports Israeli strikes, artillery shelling and broad demolitions of civilian buildings in southern villages and towns.

Lebanon's health ministry says Israeli attacks have killed at least 8,920 people since hostilities initially erupted in October 2023, after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas over the Gaza conflict.

Arab World

Xi Tells Egypt’s Sisi ‘External Interference’ in Middle East Should Be Opposed

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, second left, and his wife Peng Liyuan, left, are welcomed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, right, and his wife Entissar Amerupon on their arrival at Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, second left, and his wife Peng Liyuan, left, are welcomed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, right, and his wife Entissar Amerupon on their arrival at Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)
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Xi Tells Egypt’s Sisi ‘External Interference’ in Middle East Should Be Opposed

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, second left, and his wife Peng Liyuan, left, are welcomed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, right, and his wife Entissar Amerupon on their arrival at Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, second left, and his wife Peng Liyuan, left, are welcomed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, right, and his wife Entissar Amerupon on their arrival at Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)

Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Egyptian counterpart on Wednesday that "external interference" in the Middle East should be opposed, Beijing's state media reported, following talks in Cairo between the two leaders. 

"We must uphold the principle that the people of the Middle East are the masters of their own affairs, oppose external interference (and) support regional countries in strengthening dialogue on peace and security," Xi told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua. 

Xi is on his first visit to Egypt in a decade as Beijing seeks a greater foothold in the region against the backdrop of the US-Iran war. 

Washington vowed last month to isolate Iran economically, threatening expanded sanctions that could also hit Chinese banks, among others. 

China, a major buyer of Iranian oil, has vowed to safeguard its interests. 

Xi also said during talks with Sisi that Beijing was willing to help protect maritime shipping from the energy-rich region, upended since US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February triggered the war. 

"China stands ready to work with countries in the region to safeguard the security of international shipping lanes, advance development cooperation... and eliminate the breeding grounds for conflict," Xi said, according to Xinhua.