Trump Planning To Permanently Relocate 1 Million Palestinians To Libya: Report

Washington:

Months after President Donald Trump proposed to “take over” Gaza, a new report has claimed that the US is working on a plan to permanently relocate about one million Palestinians from the war-torn territory to Libya.

The plan is under “serious consideration” and the Trump administration has discussed it with Libya’s leadership, NBC News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The US would release to Libya, a North African country which has remained deeply divided since the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that toppled and killed its longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi, billions of dollars of funds that were frozen more than a decade ago in exchange for the resettling of Palestinians, the report said.

There, however, has been no final agreement and Israel, which launched a military campaign in Gaza after Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israeli towns in October 2023, has been informed of the discussions, NBC News reported.

A US official said the report was “untrue”.

“The situation on the ground is untenable for such a plan. Such a plan was not discussed and makes no sense,” the official told NBC News.

A senior official of Hamas, a US-designated terrorist group that has run Gaza, said he 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,” Basem Naim told 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.

This month, US media reported that Donald Trump, who took office in January pledging to deport millions of people, planned to send migrants to third countries, including Libya.

Libya’s Government of National Unity, however, rejected the use of Libyan territory as a destination for deporting migrants without its knowledge or consent.

It also said there was no coordination with the US regarding the reception of migrants.

Since returning to power, Trump has repeatedly suggested that Palestinians in Gaza should be taken in by regional Arab nations such as Egypt and Jordan, an idea rejected by both the Arab states and Palestinian leaders.

In February, he suggested that the US should take control of the Gaza Strip and move about two million Gazans out of the territory to other countries in the region, a plan dubbed the “Riviera of the Middle East“.

Israel-Hamas War In Gaza

Israel seized the Gaza Strip in 1967 and maintained a military presence in the territory until 2005, when it pulled out its settlers and troops. 

A year later, Hamas won parliamentary elections and seized full control of Gaza in 2007.

Major fighting then flared in Gaza in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021.

The deadliest war in Gaza began when Hamas launched an attack on Israeli towns on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 and taking 251 hostages.

Israel’s retaliatory strikes have since then killed more than 53,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly 2 million people.