Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again called for what he refers to as the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the war-ravaged territory, while Israeli gunfire killed at least 25 people seeking aid in Gaza on Wednesday.
Netanyahu wants to realise US President Donald Trump’s vision of relocating much of Gaza’s population of over 2 million people through what he refers to as “voluntary migration” — and what critics have warned could be ethnic cleansing, reports AP.
“Give them the opportunity to leave! First, from combat zones, and also from the strip if they want,” Netanyahu said in an interview aired Tuesday with Israeli TV station i24 to discuss the planned offensive in areas that include Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people shelter. “We are not pushing them out but allowing them to leave.”
Staff at Nasser and Awda hospitals, which received the bodies, said people were shot on their way to aid distribution sites or while awaiting convoys entering Gaza.
Efforts to revive ceasefire talks have resumed after apparently breaking down last month. Hamas and Egyptian officials met Wednesday in Cairo, according to Hamas official Taher al-Nounou. Israel has no plans to send its negotiating team to talks in Cairo, Netanyahu’s office said.
Israel’s plans to widen its military offensive against Hamas to parts of Gaza it does not yet control have sparked condemnation at home and abroad, and could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire.
The militants still hold 50 hostages taken in the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war. Israel believes around 20 are still alive. Families fear a new offensive endangers them.
When asked by i24 News if the window had closed on a partial ceasefire deal, Netanyahu responded that he wanted all hostages back, alive and dead.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters that Cairo is still trying to advance an earlier proposal for an initial 60-day ceasefire, the release of some hostages and an influx of humanitarian aid before further talks on a lasting truce.
Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in return for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The militant group has refused to disarm.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries condemned Netanyahu’s remark to i24 News that he was “very” attached to the vision of a Greater Israel. He did not elaborate, but supporters of the idea believe that Israel should control not only the occupied West Bank but parts of Arab countries.
Among those killed while seeking aid were 14 Palestinians in the Teina area approximately 3 kilometres (1.8 miles) from a food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to staff at Nasser hospital. Israeli fire killed at least six other people waiting for aid trucks close to the Morag corridor, which separates parts of southern Gaza, Nasser hospital said.
Israeli gunfire killed five other Palestinians while trying to reach another GHF distribution site in the Netzarim corridor area. The Israeli military said it was not aware of any casualties from Israeli fire in that area.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 61,700 Palestinians since October 7, 2023.