US State Department press secretary Matthew Miller said Washington condemns recent statements by Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Bengvir supporting Palestinian accommodation outside Gaza [joslas]”.
Smotrich is the finance minister from the far-right Religious Zionist party, while Bengvir is the national security minister from the far-right Jewish Power party.
“This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible,” Miller added, reiterating the “clear, consistent and unequivocal” US position that “Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land, whose future will no longer be controlled by Hamas and where there will be no terrorist groups capable of threaten Israel”.
Bengwir had called on Monday to promote “a solution that would facilitate the emigration of the people of Gaza”.
In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew all troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip, ending its presence in this Palestinian territory since 1967, but retained almost complete control over the borders of the Gaza Strip.
Since the war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group ruling the Gaza Strip, began on October 7, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not officially mentioned any plans for the expulsion of the residents of the Gaza Strip or the return of Jewish settlers.
Bengwir, however, argued that Palestinian emigration and the restoration of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip “is the right, just, moral and humane solution.”
“This is an opportunity to develop a project to encourage the people of Gaza to emigrate to countries around the world,” Bengwir told a meeting of his party.
Smotrich on Sunday called for the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip, also saying Israel should “encourage” the 2.4 million Palestinians living there to leave.
PHOTO: Civilian casualties in the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip on December 19
PHOTO: A hospital in the Gaza Strip city of Han Younis, where Israel launched an attack on Hamas
2024-01-03 05:26:00
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