TEL AVIV—Israel on Monday began negotiations with several countries it hopes will take in Gazans as part of a mass emigration plan first proposed by President Donald Trump, two Israeli officials with knowledge of the talks told the Washington Free Beacon.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer briefed the cabinet on the talks in a closed-door meeting earlier on Monday. The leaders said the talks were expected to continue for several days with the goal of securing commitments from the other countries to accept specific numbers of Gazan migrants in exchange for benefits to be provided by the United States.
"This is big," said one of the sources, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press about the talks. "The immigration plan is moving ahead, and it sounds pretty serious."
Netanyahu and Dermer said the United States was involved in the talks, but did not specify in what capacity or reveal the names of the other countries or the terms under consideration.
The launch of the talks is the most concrete sign of progress to date on Trump’s "Gaza Riviera" plan, which would facilitate the exit of civilians from the war-ruined strip. Israeli officials have embraced the plan, describing it as key to winning the Gaza war and resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But Arab and European leaders have rejected the plan, and no country has yet agreed to accept Gazan migrants.
In a joint press conference at the White House last week, Netanyahu and Trump told the Free Beacon that they were moving ahead with the plan.
"We're working with the United States very closely about finding countries that will seek to realize what they always say, that they want to give the Palestinians a better future, and I think we're getting close to finding several countries, and I think this will give again the freedom to choose," Netanyahu said.
The Trump administration and Israel reportedly approached Sudan, Somalia, and Somaliland to discuss taking in Gazan migrants in March, though Somalia and Somaliland denied that the outreach occurred.
Netanyahu and Dermer also briefed the cabinet on ongoing U.S.-brokered negotiations in Doha between Israel and Hamas—expressing optimism that the Palestinian terrorist group would agree to a partial ceasefire and hostage release deal that would afterward allow Israel to resume the war. The other ministers, with the exceptions of finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, indicated support for such an agreement.
Hamas in a statement on Monday accused Netanyahu of being "unwilling" to make a deal. Meanwhile, Trump told reporters the hostage-ceasefire talks were going "pretty well" and he expected news "fairly soon."
According to Hebrew media, Israel on Monday made additional concessions to Hamas regarding troop withdrawals from the Morag Corridor in southern Gaza as part of a potential ceasefire.
"From what I understand, Israel has agreed to withdraw from at least part of Morag," an official with knowledge of the cabinet meeting told the Free Beacon. "If at the beginning they were like, ‘We have to stay in Morag,’—and it was who Bibi led that, by the way—now Israel is saying, ‘No … it’s fine, we’ll withdraw at least from parts of it."
Such a withdrawal could undermine Israel’s plan to build a "humanitarian city" in southern Gaza. Israeli military chief of staff Eyal Zamir and other top generals presented their criticisms of the plan to the cabinet on Monday, saying the creation of the humanitarian city would be costly, time consuming, and put soldiers at risk.
"There’s a big rift about Gaza and the humanitarian city," the source said. "The generals don’t want to control any aspect of humanitarian aid. They want nothing to do with it."
During the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu suggested the humanitarian city could be created in a different part of Gaza, such as in the center of the strip.