Trump plans to relocate 1 million Palestinians to Libya
The administration of US President Donald Trump is working on a plan to relocate about 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, according to a report.
Two people with direct knowledge of the plans and a former US official told NBC News in a report published on Friday that the Trump administration has discussed the plan with Libya’s leadership.
The three people said that in exchange for the resettling of Palestinians, the Trump administration would likely release to Libya billions of dollars of funds frozen in the United States. They added that a final agreement has not been reached.
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said that Hamas was not aware of any discussions about moving Palestinians to Libya.
“Palestinians are very rooted in their homeland, very strongly committed to the homeland and they are ready to fight up to the end and to sacrifice anything to defend their land, their homeland, their families, and the future of their children,” Naim said in response to questions from NBC News.
“[Palestinians] are exclusively the only party who have the right to decide for the Palestinians, including Gaza and Gazans, what to do and what not to do,” he added.
Libya has been plagued by instability and warring political factions throughout the nearly 14 years since a civil war broke out in the country and its leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was toppled by US-backed militants.
Since February, Trump has consistently advocated for the takeover of Gaza and the resettlement of its inhabitants to transform the area into a tourist attraction.
The proposal has been met with rejection from the Muslim world and numerous other countries, who argue that it constitutes ethnic cleansing.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week acknowledged that the Israeli military was persistently demolishing residences in Gaza to deter Palestinians from returning and to compel their emigration.
The Israeli military resumed bombardment of Gaza on March 18, killing thousands of Palestinians, and injuring many others, after it shattered the 2-month ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian group Hamas and the deal on the exchange of Israeli captives with Palestinian abductees.
At least 53,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, in the brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023.
