Israeli government seeks Trump’s support for ethnic cleansing of Gaza

Israel’s defence minister has said his country is seeking Donald Trump’s support to approve plans to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in what has widely been condemned as a potential war crime.

Israel Katz said there was “no real solution for Gaza in the end without this
migration” during a conference hosted by the Israeli news site Ynet and the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. He said the Israeli government was “organised and prepared to get them out by sea, by air, by every way possible”.

Trump discussed a US takeover of the Gaza Strip in early 2025 that would have involved removing Palestinians from the territory, but has since pulled back from the idea. A 20-point peace plan the White House drew up last year did not call for Palestinians’ deportation, an act that would be widely seen as ethnic cleansing.

The Guardian is not usually so mealy-mouthed, since this would be the most literal example of ethnic cleansing imaginable.

Katz, however, said on Wednesday that he believed US support could tip regional opinion in favour of the forced resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza. He said Trump’s approval was crucial to convince neighbouring countries to accept Palestinian refugees.

Meanwhile, national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video in which he mocked Palestinian women prisoners to their faces for complaining about inhumane prison conditions:

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has posted footage from a prison holding Palestinian women on social media, boasting that he is responsible for the harsh conditions imposed on them.

The video, posted on Ben-Gvir’s X account on Sunday, shows him entering a section holding female prisoners and confronting them about their complaints regarding detention conditions.

One prisoner tells him: “This is our third day without showering. We are not receiving medical treatment, and our clothes are not clean.”

Ben-Gvir responds: “The good conditions in the prisons are over. This is the current situation, and I am directly responsible for everything. I am pleased with these conditions.”

In a post accompanying the video, the far-right minister wrote that the “whining” of prisoners over their conditions would not influence him, arguing that Israeli captives held in Gaza had not enjoyed adequate conditions.

“I’ll continue to lead a policy of the bare minimum of the minimum,” he said.

A couple of days earlier Ben-Gvir (again this is a cabinet minister) posted an AI video of Palestinians being sent by conveyer belt into an industrialized slaughterhouse. I’m not linking but it’s out there if you want to look at it (not recommended).

I’ve been told by people who are knowledgeable about Israeli affairs that Ben-Gvir and his supporters are trying to isolate Israel from the United States, because they believe this will give them the “free hand” they need to deal with the Palestinian question appropriately.