Israel Reportedly Seeks Countries to Host Gaza Palestinians, Morocco Named

Speaking to the media during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Hungary, a senior Israeli official said on Friday that Jerusalem was in contact with several countries to host Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. According to him, US President Donald Trump’s plan to take control of the Gaza Strip and permanently relocate all Palestinians is struggling to materialize, but Israel wants to act quickly. "We want to free the hostages and eliminate Hamas, and then there is a possibility of large-scale emigration," he said. He refers to an unspecified survey that revealed that 60% of the approximately 2 million inhabitants of Gaza are interested in emigration.

Several countries such as Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Egypt would, he claims, have already expressed interest in hosting the Palestinians. "They want something in return - not necessarily money, but also strategic issues," the official said. They have all conditioned this aid on Israel granting the Palestinian Authority a foothold in the Gaza Strip to create a path towards a possible two-state solution, reports The Times of Israel. A condition that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long rejected. His persistent insistence "on saying that the Arab countries will pay the bill no matter what has exasperated them," reports the same source.