Katz: Israel ready to evacuate Gaza residents if it receives US green light

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel has ready plans to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, but is waiting for the United States to determine where they can be relocated.

Katz, speaking at a conference hosted by the website Ynet and the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth on Wednesday, said, “Ultimately, there is no real solution for Gaza without this migration.”

US President Donald Trump sparked widespread controversy at the start of his second term when he called for approximately two million Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip, which has been reduced to rubble by Israeli bombardment that began after the October 7, 2023 attacks. He also proposed what he described as a development plan for the devastated coastal area, transforming it into a luxury resort.

He added that 80 percent of Gaza’s residents want to leave, but Hamas is preventing them from doing so, without citing the source of his claim.