Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said on Wednesday, 16 September, that Israel was preparing to resume a major war in the Gaza Strip and implement a project to leave its approximately two million Palestinian inhabitants. He describes this project as a voluntary « migration ». His statements were made at a time when the United States ensured that no forced displacement of the population was planned and that the ceasefire in force since October 2025 remained fragile.
Israel Katz no longer presents the massive departure of Palestinians from Gaza as a distant hypothesis. Israel’s Defense Minister is looking forward to a new offensive against Hamas.
According to him, the Israeli army is ready to resume large-scale fighting if it is ordered to eliminate the Palestinian movement. This operation would then implement what he calls the « migration plan ».
The project would potentially affect the entire population of the Gaza Strip, or about two million people.
The minister had already stated in early September that Israel was ready to organize their departure by land and sea. He said he was waiting for the United States, which he said would discuss countries that could accommodate Palestinians leaving the enclave.
No agreement on such host countries has been announced.
Gaza: Katz binds new war and departure of Palestinians
Israel Katz’s new statements establish a direct link between two objectives: the resumption of the military offensive against Hamas and the implementation of the project of leaving the Palestinian population.
The Minister believes that it is only a matter of time before a major outbreak of war.
It also believes that the negotiated disarmament of Hamas should not succeed. The Israeli army would therefore be prepared, on a political order, to resume its offensive to « finish the work », as Katz used.
This transaction should, in the scenario presented by the Minister, then allow the « migration » project to be implemented.
Israel Katz also claimed that 70 per cent of Gaza had already been emptied of its population during the Israeli offensive launched after Hamas’ attack on 7 October 2023.
However, this does not mean that 70 per cent of the population has left the Gaza Strip. Almost all of the Palestinian population has been internally displaced since the beginning of the war. Residents have had to leave their neighbourhood or city, sometimes on several occasions, while remaining inside Palestinian territory.
This distinction is essential. The massive displacements already caused by the war took place mainly within Gaza. The project mentioned by Katz concerns the departure of Palestinians from the enclave.
Israel speaks of « voluntary migration »
The Israeli Government presented the project as a voluntary departure mechanism and not as an expulsion.
Israel Katz says that a majority of Palestinians would like to leave Gaza. However, there is no public evidence that a majority of the nearly two million inhabitants wish to emigrate permanently.
The minister had indicated in early September that Israel could allow land and sea departures. The Palestinian destination is one of the main practical and diplomatic obstacles to such a project.
This issue is all the more sensitive given the fact that the population of Gaza lives in a territory largely destroyed by almost three years of war. Almost all the inhabitants were displaced at least once inside the enclave and a large part of the housing and infrastructure was destroyed or damaged.
In these circumstances, the distinction between voluntary departure and forced displacement is a major issue.
The individual will to leave a territory cannot be assessed independently of the conditions in which its inhabitants live. In Gaza, the destruction of housing, successive displacements and continued strikes are the framework within which the Israeli project is now being discussed.
Washington denies any forced displacement project
Katz’s statements do not fully reflect Washington’s public position.
The American ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, assured early this month that there was no plan to force the Palestinians out of Gaza.
The US diplomat distinguished a forced displacement from an opportunity given to residents willing to leave the enclave. He assured him that neither the United States nor Israel supported displacement against the will of the inhabitants.
This contrasts with Israel Katz’s wording on Wednesday, which explicitly linked the resumption of a military offensive to the subsequent implementation of the « migration plan ».
At the same time, the Israeli Minister said that the United States was participating in discussions on possible Palestinian destinations. Washington has not publicly announced an agreement to welcome the approximately two million Gazans abroad.
The disagreement therefore includes the exact nature of the project. Katz defends an emigration which he describes as a volunteer. The US authorities publicly exclude forced displacement.
Egypt rejects Palestinian displacement
The project also encounters regional opposition.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi on Wednesday reaffirmed his rejection of the Palestinian displacement. This statement took place in a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo.
Since the beginning of the war, Egypt has opposed the transfer of the population of Gaza to its territory. The subject directly concerns Cairo since the enclave shares a border with Egypt at Rafah level.
The question of destinations thus remains unanswered.
Israel Katz claims that Israel has the necessary means to allow land and sea departures. But displacement of this magnitude would require States to accept the entry and settlement of the Palestinians concerned.
At this stage, no international architecture has been made public for the transfer of the two million inhabitants.
The disarmament of Hamas at the heart of Katz’s scenario
Israel Katz also inscribed his project in the blockade around the disarmament of Hamas.
The ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump in October 2025 had led to a sharp reduction in fighting intensity and the return of Israeli hostages still detained in Gaza. It should also open a new political and security phase.
At the end of July 2026, Hamas declared its readiness to enter a disarmament process. A road map supported by the United States provides for a gradual abandonment of its weapons in return for an Israeli withdrawal.
But the modalities and order of the various stages remain contested.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to withdraw until Hamas achieves verifiable disarmament. This divergence blocks the implementation of the new phase of the process.
Israel Katz now publicly assumes that negotiated disarmament will fail.
It is on this assumption that it bases the possibility of a resumption of war. The Israeli army would then be tasked with eliminating Hamas before the Palestinian departure project was implemented.
Nearly three years of war ravaged Gaza
The prospect of a massive departure comes after almost three years of conflict and displacement.
The Hamas and other Palestinian groups attack on 7 October 2023 killed 1,221 people in Israel, according to an Israeli official count. The attackers also took 251 hostages to the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli offensive launched in response resulted in more than 73,700 deaths in the enclave, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. It does not distinguish combatants from civilians in its record. However, its data are considered reliable by the United Nations for the overall valuation of losses.
The cease-fire that came into effect in October 2025 significantly reduced the fighting without eliminating it.
Israel continued to carry out regular strikes in the Gaza Strip. According to the Ministry of Health of the Territory, 1,375 Palestinians have been killed since the truce came into effect.
The destruction of the housing stock also remains considerable. Displaced families continue to live in damaged buildings due to lack of housing. On Wednesday, the collapse in Gaza City of a building that had already been hit during the war left several dozen victims and wounded.
It is in this devastated territory that Israel Katz is now openly considering the departure of the Palestinian population.
Less than six weeks before the Israeli elections on 27 October, his statements also took place in a context of competition on the right. The minister responded Wednesday to the criticisms of another right-wing political leader when he detailed his position on Gaza.
The actual recovery of the war would, however, depend on a political decision that has not yet been announced. Similarly, no clear timetable for the « migration plan », no host country has been officially designated and Washington continues to deny the existence of a project to forcibly relocate Palestinians outside Gaza.
