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- 鈥淲e must promote a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza鈥檚 residents,鈥� Israel鈥檚 firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said
JERUSALEM: An Israeli minister on Monday called for the return of settlers to Gaza and said Palestinians should be encouraged to leave, a day after similar remarks by another far-right politician.
鈥淲e must promote a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza鈥檚 residents,鈥� Israel鈥檚 firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said as war with the Gaza Strip鈥檚 Hamas rulers rages on.
Israel unilaterally withdrew the last of its troops and settlers in 2005, ending a presence inside Gaza that began in 1967 but maintaining near complete control over the territory鈥檚 borders.
The government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not officially suggested it has any plans to evict Gazans or to send Jewish settlers back to the territory since the current war broke out on October 7.
But Ben Gvir argued that the departure of Palestinians and re-establishment of Israeli settlements 鈥渋s a correct, just, moral and humane solution.鈥�
鈥淭his is an opportunity to develop a project to encourage Gaza鈥檚 residents to emigrate to countries around the world,鈥� he told a meeting of his ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit, or 鈥淛ewish Power,鈥� party.
Ben Gvir鈥檚 comment came the day after far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also called for the return of settlers to Gaza, equally saying Israel should 鈥渆ncourage鈥� the territory鈥檚 approximately 2.4 million Palestinians to leave.
Smotrich said that for Israel to 鈥渃ontrol the territory militarily for a long time, we need a civilian presence.鈥�
Both Ben Gvir and Smotrich live in settlements in the occupied West Bank, considered illegal under international law.
Hamas on Sunday condemned Smotrich鈥檚 comments as a 鈥渧ile mockery and a war crime鈥� and added that Gazans 鈥渨ill stand firm and steadfast in the face of all attempts to displace them from their land and homes.鈥�
The October 7 Hamas attack left about 1,140 people dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel鈥檚 ongoing offensive, aimed at destroying Hamas, has killed at least 21,978 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
With heavy combat raging on, 85 percent of people in the besieged Gaza Strip have been internally displaced, according to the United Nations.