The Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate as much as one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, NBC News reported Friday, citing five people with knowledge of the matter.
The plan is under serious enough consideration that the US has discussed it with Libya’s leadership, the report said, while stressing a final agreement has yet to be reached.
In exchange for resettling the Palestinians, the administration would release to Libya billions of dollars of funds the US froze more than a decade ago, NBC added.
According to three of the sources quoted in the report, Israel has been kept in the loop about the administration’s talks on the matter.
“These reports are untrue,” an administration spokesperson told NBC in response. ““The situation on the ground is untenable for such a plan. Such a plan was not discussed and makes no sense.”
There was no response from Israel or either of Libya’s two rival governments the report, which also said administration officials have discussed offering incentives such as free housing and possibly a financial stipend to encourage Palestinians to leave Gaza for the North African country.
An official told the US network that it remains unclear where one million Palestinians from Gaza could be settled in the largely lawless Libya, which has been plunged into chaos and division since the 2011 civil war in which longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed.
The NBC report also noted the logistical challenges involved in transporting one million people from Gaza to Libya, particularly with no airport in the Strip.
US President Donald Trump triggered global perplexity in early February by suggesting the US “take over” Gaza and turn it into a “Middle East Riviera” while forcing its Palestinian inhabitants to relocate to Egypt, Jordan, or other countries. He has since said, however, that no Gazans would be expelled.
Visiting the Middle East this week, Trump said he wanted the United States to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone”: “I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good. Make it a freedom zone. Let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,” he said. “I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone.”
While far-right ministers in Israel have urged using the ongoing war with Hamas as an opportunity to reestablish Israeli settlements in the Strip lauded the plan, the Palestinian Authority and Arab nations rejected it outright.
Despite public opposition among the region’s leaders, the government has moved forward with plans to encourage Palestinians to relocate, though The Times of Israel found no meaningful change in Israel’s exit policy for Gaza residents in recent months.