Israel Katz says that “there is no real solution to Gaza” without depopulating the Strip.
Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz acknowledged that Israel was still working to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, saying US President Donald Trump had simply frozen a plan that rights advocates say amounted to ethnic cleansing.
Speaking at a conference hosted by Israeli publication Ynet on Wednesday, Katz said depopulation of the Gaza Strip (euphemistically described by some Israeli officials as voluntary “immigration” or “settlement” of Palestinians) remains “the only solution.”
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“At the end of the day, there is no real solution for Gaza without this migration,” Katz said, according to the Times of Israel.
Palestinian rights advocates have argued for nearly three years that the ultimate goal of Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza is the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territory.
Some far-right Israeli officials have publicly advocated depopulating Gaza, an idea Trump endorsed early in his presidency, saying the United States would seize the enclave and “own” the territory if the Palestinians were removed.
The proposal was met with anger from Middle Eastern countries, including governments allied with Washington.
President Trump then sponsored a “ceasefire” agreement that explicitly asserted the Palestinians’ right to remain on their land.
The 12-point agreement states: “No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to leave and free to return.”
“We will encourage people to stay and give them the opportunity to build a better Gaza.”
Since the ceasefire went into effect in October 2025, Israel has continued to restrict aid to the Gaza Strip and impede its reconstruction while launching near-daily attacks against Palestinians.
Katz said the Israeli government is ready to occupy Gaza “by sea, by air, by any means possible.” However, Egypt, which borders the Palestinian territories, refuses to accept Palestinian refugees.
He stressed that other countries that might take in displaced Palestinians need U.S. support, but that the U.S. government has not completely dropped the proposal.
“At this point, Mr. Trump has not canceled it, he has frozen it.”
Katz said ethnic cleansing plans are “always under discussion.”
He added: “In the end, I don’t think there is any other solution, for everyone’s benefit. But we need the United States for that, and that moment will come.”
Over the past three years, the United States has given Israel about $25 billion in military aid and defended the Israeli government in international forums, including imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court officials investigating atrocities in Gaza.
In July, President Trump announced an agreement to disarm Hamas as part of a U.S.-backed process that includes Israel’s withdrawal and an end to deadly attacks on Palestinian territory.
But Israel rejected the offer, saying it would not make any concessions until Gaza was completely demilitarized.
In response to Katz’s statement, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he and fellow Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley warned that Israel was planning ethnic cleansing in the Palestinian enclave after visiting the Gaza-Egypt border last year.
“Now Israel (the defense minister) has acknowledged that that is the goal,” Van Hollen wrote in a social media post. “We have to stop colluding.”
