Ben Gvir: Ministry to Relocate 1.86 Million Gazans

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir unveiled his Otzma Yehudit party’s program on September 3, called Separation 710, which envisions the voluntary relocation of most of Gaza’s population over the next seven years. For Serbia, which follows Middle Eastern upheaval without a firm anchor in any bloc and through its own policy of military neutrality, this is not merely one party’s domestic campaign pledge. If it ever takes institutional shape, it would reshape the framework within which the region talks about the Middle East at all. The program comes a week after we reported on the arrest of Hamas’s security chief during a raid on Gaza City, part of a string of moves through which Israel has, in recent weeks, tried to impose its own framework for the territory’s future.

The name Separation 710 combines two dates: Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 and October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas attack that triggered the war. Under the plan, around 250,000 residents would voluntarily leave Gaza in the first year, 1.11 million in total over the following three years, and 1.86 million people over seven years. The Times of Israel notes that Gaza currently has a population of roughly 2.3 million, meaning that if carried out in full, the plan would cover the large majority of people living there.

Ben Gvir wants the next Israeli government to set up a dedicated Ministry for Emigration, with its own budget, a negotiating team to deal with foreign governments, and a body that would run security screening on every candidate for departure. The program rests on 12 principles: relocation is strictly voluntary, every individual or family gets a separate case file, keeping families together takes priority, and the ministry would publish monthly figures on applications, approvals and departures. Anyone who accepts relocation would receive a package covering travel costs, initial housing, vocational training, job placement assistance and support lasting up to 24 months. Under the plan, part of the funding would also go to countries that agree to take in Gaza’s residents, in proportion to the number of people they actually accept.

Why do sources disagree on the plan’s price tag?

Three sources that covered the program’s unveiling agree that Israel is seeking up to an additional 50 billion shekels, roughly 15.2 billion dollars, contingent on international participation in the funding. They disagree, however, on the Israeli state’s own initial contribution: the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post put the figure at 10 billion shekels, or about three billion dollars, while Israel National News reports an initial figure of 10 million shekels. The gap between those two numbers is a thousand times larger than a simple typo would explain, and it is unclear whether one outlet made an error or whether the sources genuinely diverge in how they read the proposal, since none of the three pieces addresses the discrepancy.

The plan names Turkey, Ethiopia and the Congo as possible destination countries, alongside unnamed Arab states, though any concrete arrangement would depend on the receiving country’s consent and on settling the legal status of the people who arrive there.

Ben Gvir linked the program’s unveiling to the victims of the war that followed the Hamas attack. He said the results achieved in the recent war must not go without a lasting consequence.

“The blood of our sons and daughters must not, God forbid, have been shed in vain.”

He said the program is the first demand his party will put on the table in negotiations over joining the next government, with Israeli elections set for October 27.

“In the next government, establishing the Ministry for Emigration will be at the top of our coalition demands.”

In laying out the plan, the minister also invoked Rehavam Zeevi, a former far-right Israeli minister known by the nickname Gandhi, who publicly advocated the resettlement of the Palestinian population.

“It’s time to admit it: Gandhi was right!”

Ben Gvir closed the presentation with a line crafted as a slogan for his party’s election campaign.

“Instead of the illusions of Peace Now, we need a Relocation Now movement. Instead of digging tunnels, it’s time to pack suitcases.”

Analysts cited by the Times of Israel assess that a plan like this would meet strong international resistance and that it is unlikely to be carried out in practice on the scale Otzma Yehudit is proposing, however specific the figures on budget and timelines may sound. None of the three sources reviewed reports that any of the named countries, Turkey, Ethiopia or the Congo, has so far officially responded to the proposal or confirmed willingness to take in people relocated from Gaza.

Whether the demand to establish the ministry will actually become a condition for Otzma Yehudit’s entry into the next Israeli government, and how the countries named as possible destinations would respond to such a demand, remains open until the election set for October 27.