Israeli Defense Minister Calls Gaza Removal 'The Only Solution' as Ben-Gvir Unveils Seven-Year Expulsion Plan

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told a conference on Wednesday that removing Palestinians from Gaza is "the only solution," and that Israel is prepared to do it "by sea, by air and by every way possible." He said US President Donald Trump has only "frozen," not cancelled, his support for the idea.

"By sea, by air and by every way possible."

The same week, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir unveiled a seven-year plan branded "Disengagement 710," describing it as a mechanism to remove Gaza's roughly two million residents through what he called "voluntary emigration." Ben-Gvir said that if re-elected he would establish a Migration Ministry to carry out the expulsions.

The US State Department said it "does not support any plan or proposal for the forced displacement, expulsion, or mandatory transfer of the population of Gaza," but the statement did not name or directly condemn Katz or Ben-Gvir.

Killings continued through the week

An Israeli special forces raid near Gaza City's American hospital on Tuesday killed at least four Palestinians, including two children and a woman, and ended with the capture of Moin al-Arabeed, whom Israel described as head of Hamas's internal security. A drone strike killed a child in Jabalia refugee camp on Wednesday. Two Palestinians, including a 13-year-old, were shot dead near Beit Lahia on Thursday after Israel said they had crossed into an Israeli-controlled area. On Sunday, a drone strike on a car near Gaza City's Hamid intersection killed Youssef Akila and his young daughter, Wafaa. Before dawn Monday, an artillery shell struck a school in Deir el-Balah sheltering displaced people, killing three-year-old Saadi Ghalia among at least five dead.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported by Monday that 73,658 people have been killed and 174,622 wounded in Gaza since October 2023, after 160 additional deaths were certified and added to the toll. More than 1,340 of those deaths came after the October 2025 ceasefire.

Families in northern Gaza held funerals Sunday for around 100 people, including 60 children, pulled from the rubble of Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood, many from the extended Malaka family. Gaza civil defense chief Raed al-Dahshan told Al Jazeera his teams could recover an estimated 8,000 more bodies within 90 days with proper heavy equipment, but that without it "this work will continue for years." Between 10,000 and 14,000 people remain missing under the rubble.

The World Health Organization warned that water contamination in Gaza has nearly tripled since January, and the Palestinian Water Authority said all five of the territory's wastewater plants have shut down, with roughly 55,000 cubic meters of untreated sewage discharged daily.

West Bank demolitions

Israeli forces demolished all 12 homes in Khirbet al-Tabban in Masafer Yatta this week, leaving 70 people, including 30 children, homeless. "It's wiping the village off the face of the earth," council head Nidal Younis said, adding that residents intend to rebuild. Israeli forces also destroyed four water wells and several greenhouses in Beit Ummar, near Hebron, causing an estimated $60,000 in losses, and demolished a home in Nahalin in the Bethlehem governorate. Around Jenin, bulldozing of farmers' trees continued along two roads under six military orders issued in August to clear vegetation from four area villages, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.