Eight Arab and Islamic countries on Sunday condemned Israeli plans for the removal of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, saying the designs, voiced by ministers, jeopardize the US-backed plan in the territory.
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkey said they condemned in "the strongest terms" the "plans and mechanisms they proposed aimed at forcibly expelling Palestinians from their land."
"Such measures directly challenge international efforts to achieve peace, particularly President Donald Trump's comprehensive plan to end the conflict in Gaza, which includes a firm rejection of forced displacement," they added, referring to the US-backed, October 2025 plan for Gaza.
On September 5, the US ambassador to "Israel", Mike Huckabee, a staunch supporter of "Israel" and Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, denied there was an Israeli plan to force Palestinians out of Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israeli War Minister Israel Katz said September 2 that the Israeli government had plans to remove Palestinians from Gaza but was waiting for US approval on where to displace the territory's population. A day later, Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the plan aimed to forcibly remove 250,000 Palestinians from Gaza in the first year, followed by the rest of the roughly two million residents over the following six years.
Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir presented a plan on September 3 aimed at facilitating the forced removal of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and relocating them abroad.
Speaking ahead of closely contested Israeli elections in October, Ben-Gvir outlined a timeline for the proposal, which envisions the "departure" of 250,000 Palestinians from Gaza within the first year, with the remaining approximately two million residents being forced out over the subsequent six years.
"It's realistic," Ben Gvir claimed, adding that there are countries that are "ready" to take inPalestinians from Gaza, without naming any of these countries.
Such policies that are currently being implemented through coercion, violence, or conditions designed to make continued residence impossible would constitute ethnic cleansing: the deliberate removal of a civilian population from a particular territory based on its national or ethnic identity.
Hamas has warned of the danger posed by statements from Israeli occupation ministers regarding plans to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, calling on Arab and Islamic countries to adopt a unified position to thwart such schemes.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the escalating statements by ministers in the Israeli occupation government regarding the continued adoption of displacement plans represent "an extremely dangerous development," according to the statement.
Qassem said the statements demonstrate that the Israeli occupation "has not abandoned the displacement plan" and is seeking to revive and promote it in accordance with its political and electoral interests.
He added that the statements also explain the continuation of the war on Gaza, the tightening of the blockade, policies of starvation and deprivation of water, obstruction of reconstruction, and the prevention of essential medical supplies from entering the Strip, in an effort to impose harsh living conditions that would push toward implementing displacement plans.
The Hamas spokesperson called on Arab and Islamic countries to undertake "serious and unified action" to confront these plans and adopt effective positions and measures to thwart them, stressing that they constitute "a direct threat to the Palestinian cause and to Arab and Islamic national security."
Qassem stressed that adopting a unified and firm Arab and Islamic position would be capable of preventing the occupation's plans to displace the Palestinian people from their land.