Israel’s finance minister, the far-right Bezalel Smotrichhas redoubled his messages this Wednesday in favor of forced expulsion of Palestinians of the Gaza Strip after the criticism made by the United States of the calls in this regard by several members of the Government led by Benjamin Netanyahuor. “More than 70 percent of the Israeli population today supports a humanitarian solution to boost migration volunteer of Gazan Arabs and their absorption in other countries“, he stated on his account on the social network X, without specifying the source of this data.

Thus, he stated that “a small country” like Israel “cannot allow four minutes away from a community to have a center of hatred and terrorism in which two million people wake up every day with the aspiration to destroy the State of Israel and murder and rape Jews, wherever they are,” referring to the Gaza Strip. “Israeli society will not agree with the fact that this reality continues in Gaza. “It is necessary to rethink and share with our friends in international society (ideas) that achieve peace, security and prosperity for all the people of the region and that allow residents of the south to return to their homes in safety and peace,” Smotrich concluded. .

During the last few days, both Smotrich and the Israeli Minister of National Security, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, have advocate for “voluntary migration” of Palestinians after the end of the military offensive against Gaza, triggered after the attacks carried out on October 7 by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

The offensive has already caused displacement of 1.9 million Palestinians within Gaza, which represents close to 90 percent of the total population, to which several Israeli ministers and deputies have even advocated a new occupation of the enclave, an option repeatedly denounced by the United Nations. In fact, the spokesperson for the US State Department, Matthew Millercriticized on Tuesday “inflammatory and irresponsible rhetoric” by Smotrich and Ben Gvir for their defense of the forced expulsion of population from Gazabefore insisting that “Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land.”

In response, Ben Gvir said that although he “appreciates” the United States, Israel “is not just another star on the American flag”. “The United States is our best friend, but first and foremost we will do what is best for the State of Israel: the migration of hundreds of thousands of people from Gaza will allow the residents of the enclave to return home and live safely,” he said. The Israeli Army launched its offensive against the Palestinian enclave after the Hamas attacks, which left some 1,200 dead and nearly 240 kidnapped. The authorities of the enclave, controlled by the Islamist group, have so far denounced more than 22,300 Palestinians killed due to the Israeli offensive, to which more than 300 deaths are added in security force operations and attacks by settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.