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Israel allowed hundreds of Palestinians to leave Gaza after months of nearby blocks when they left, and the exits accelerated after President Donald Trump proposed emptying Palestinian enclaves of residents in February.
Trump’s proposal was condemned as a national cleansing equivalent by the United Nations, government and rights groups, but was seized by a minister of Israel’s far-right government, and Israeli Defense Minister announced that Israel would set up bodies to promote “voluntary” withdrawal and help implement Trump’s plans.
Diplomats said Israel has allowed hundreds of people to leave the besieged strip this year. France has over 170 people and Germany has over 70, with many other countries employing double digit people from the enclave.
Israeli officials, including Interior Minister Moshe Abel, are trying to portray the exit as part of a “voluntary departure” plan. However, diplomats involved in the process said this was not the case, saying that those leaving Gaza were now those they had been trying to leave for a long time.
Most of those who left are dual citizens or their dependents, people who are evacuated for treatment, or people who have a visa from a third country, the diplomat said.
Raja Abdulkariem Abu Madi, a Palestinian from Gaza, was allowed to take his son, Aseph, 12, to France for treatment after leaving the bombing of the foot, requiring amputation © Julien de Rosa/AFP/Getty Images
They said those who left include those who previously refused to leave Gaza, or those who had repeatedly delayed exits.
“Following Trump’s announcement, Israel has decided to open the exit sign again, as in their view it was a way to start implementing the so-called Trump plan.
Cogat, an Israeli military group responsible for the interior affairs of Palestinian territory, said it coordinated “dozens” departures without giving an exact number. He said this was done “according to the directions of political Echelon.”
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The departure from Gaza, which cannot be achieved without Israel’s approval, stopped after Israel seized control of the Rafa border, crossing between Gaza and Egypt last May.
Those involved in the evacuation said it started again in small numbers late last year, and after the US said it should take over Gaza in February, approvals accelerated sharply, saying that 2.1 million people in the enclave “all” should “resettle.”
Trump’s efforts to persuade Jordan and Egypt to take Gazan were strongly rejected by both countries. However, the fear of massive displacement has resurrected after Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government approved a plan to further strengthen the 19-month attack on Hamas on the enclave.
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The plan envisages the forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in southern Gaza on a smaller, unprecedented land. However, a senior Israeli official said Monday that withdrawal from the enclave was also a complete target for the attack.
“Voluntary transfer [emigration] The programme for Gaza residents, especially those who concentrate south outside Hamas Control, will be part of the operation’s goals,” the official said.
The diplomat said it is not yet clear whether Israel will allow those who have left to return. However, despite the humanitarian situation of the enclave, where Israeli attacks reduced most buildings to tiled rubs and the ban on their aid promoted extreme hunger, many of those who left expressed their resolve to do so.
Palestinian poet and writer Dunya Al-Amal Ismail, who left Gaza in France in April, said he was awarded a French government grant in 2024 to spend a year in Paris. She applied for grants before the war, but was only able to travel in April.
Ismail, who had evacuated internally in Gaza 11 times during the war, said she would return to the enclave after the grant was over.
“I wasn’t asked to sign documents to move out of Gaza or to go out for years,” she said. “If this had been asked to do so, I would have returned to the intersection of Kelem Shalom.”
