Netanyahu Says Talks Are Under Way With Several Countries on Relocating Palestinians From Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says talks are under way with several countries about relocating displaced Palestinians from Gaza to other countries. He has yet to present any detailed plan for Gaza's post-war future, but he has repeatedly spoken in favour of resettling displaced Palestinians abroad.

According to a senior Israeli official, the countries involved in the discussions are South Sudan, Somaliland, Ethiopia, Libya and Indonesia. The official claimed that, in exchange for taking in some of Gaza's more than two million residents, the countries concerned are seeking “significant financial and international compensation”.

How far the talks have progressed, and whether the plan stands any real chance of implementation, remains unclear. South Sudan recently rejected reports of resettlement talks as “baseless”, and Somaliland had earlier denied any such discussions. Indonesia, for its part, has said it is ready to receive two thousand Palestinians from Gaza for medical treatment — but that they must return to Gaza once they recover, meaning Jakarta is not agreeing to permanent resettlement.

In an interview with Israel's i24 News on Tuesday, Netanyahu said discussions with several countries were ongoing. He claimed this would not be a forced expulsion of Palestinians, but rather giving them an opportunity to leave. He also called on countries willing to help the Palestinians to open their doors.

Meanwhile, international concern is growing over Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City, home to more than a million Palestinians, many of them already displaced by the war. According to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, at least 123 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the Strip in the 24 hours before Wednesday.

At the same time, more than a hundred humanitarian organisations have voiced concern over obstacles to emergency aid entering Gaza and the worsening food crisis, calling on Israel to stop misusing the aid system. Shaina Low, a communications adviser at the Norwegian Refugee Council, said any plan to transfer Palestinians within Gaza or abroad is incompatible with international law and unacceptable to Palestinians.

Netanyahu sparked a second controversy in the interview with remarks about the idea of a “Greater Israel”, a concept tied to territory extending beyond Israel's current borders. He said he agreed with it “very strongly”. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar condemned the comments, saying such statements could fuel regional instability and obstruct peace efforts.

Notably, the exchange between Sharon Gal and Netanyahu about “Greater Israel” did not appear in the full interview published by i24 News. Gal himself, however, posted a longer version — including Netanyahu's remarks — on his account on the social platform X, which is where the controversy spread from.

The overall picture remains murky: Netanyahu speaks of negotiations, while the named countries either deny them or attach conditions. Amid this uncertainty over the future of more than two million people in Gaza, the strikes and the humanitarian crisis in the Strip continue unabated.

The questions for the coming days are whether any of the countries at the table will formally acknowledge anything, and how much worse the displacement pressure becomes if Israel's plans for Gaza City go ahead. Until then, Netanyahu's remarks on relocating Palestinians look set to keep stirring fresh controversy in regional diplomacy.