Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to discuss a plan for "voluntary emigration" of Gaza residents with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, The Times of Israel reports.
According to a source in the publication, Netanyahu intends to discuss this topic with Orban during his visit to Budapest, scheduled for next week.
The Israeli prime minister hopes to secure the support of his Hungarian counterpart on this issue. “Netanyahu is trying to build a coalition of as many countries as possible to support Trump's plan for Gaza“, the source of the publication notes.
On March 30, Netanyahu reiterated at the weekly cabinet meeting that Israel is committed to Trump's idea of resettling Palestinians from Gaza. He listed this decision among the conditions that the Israeli side sets for negotiations to resolve the conflict in the enclave. Among other conditions, he listed the elimination of Hamas's power in Gaza and guarantees that its leaders can leave the enclave.
On February 4, Trump announced in the presence of Netanyahu that Washington was considering long-term ownership of the Gaza Strip and the resettlement of Palestinians from the enclave to other countries in the region. The Israeli authorities supported this proposal and immediately began preparing plans for the resettlement of Palestinians, claiming that there is no alternative to it. Syria, Somalia, the new state of Somaliland and Sudan have been suggested as possible destinations for Gazans, but these options have not been officially confirmed.
Trump's position has been criticized not only by the Palestinian Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, but also by the leaders of Arab countries and Iran. Egypt announced in early February that it would prepare its own plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, an alternative to the US president's vision, which does not include the expulsion of Palestinians from the enclave.
The document was presented on March 4 at the Arab League summit, where it was unanimously approved, and on March 12 it was also shown to the US President's special envoy, Stephen Witkoff, during his meeting in Doha with the foreign ministers of a number of Arab countries.