Middle East
Ben-Gvir's 'Disengagement 710' pushes Gaza emigration as Katz awaits Trump
Israel's national security minister unveils a seven-year 'voluntary emigration' plan targeting up to 1.86 million Gazans, demanding a dedicated ministry after October elections, while Defence Minister Katz says mass exit plans are frozen — not cancelled — pending US approval.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has put mass Palestinian departure from Gaza at the centre of his October election pitch — branding it "Disengagement 710" and demanding a dedicated emigration ministry as a coalition red line.
Unveiled this week by Otzma Yehudit, the plan sets staged targets of about 250,000 departures in year one, 1.11 million within three years, and roughly 1.86 million within seven. It sketches regulated pathways, destination-country agreements, absorption packages lasting up to 24 months, and Israeli funding starting near NIS 10 billion with a matching framework that could reach NIS 50 billion if international partners join. Turkey, Ethiopia, Congo and unnamed Arab states are listed among destinations under study — all contingent on host consent and legal status for emigrants.
Ben-Gvir frames the project as "voluntary" and a historic solution after wartime gains. Palestinians, Arab governments and rights groups call it demographic engineering dressed as choice, noting that destruction, blockade and political pressure leave little free will. Defence Minister Israel Katz has separately argued there is "no real solution" for Gaza without emigration and said Israel is ready to move people "by sea, by air and by every means" — but that Trump froze, rather than cancelled, the idea under Arab pressure.
That US veto sits at the heart of the story. Even if Ben-Gvir's party forces the ministry into a post-election coalition, implementation still needs Washington's green light, willing host countries, and a ceasefire politics already strained by continued violence in Gaza. For now, Disengagement 710 is campaign architecture more than state policy — but it shows how emigration, once fringe talk, has become a mainstream bargaining chip in Israeli politics with global consequences.