Netanyahu: Palestinians can leave Gaza

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday revived calls to “allow” Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip, as the military prepares a broader offensive in the territory.

Netanyahu defended his war policies in a rare interview with Israeli media, broadcast shortly after Egypt said Gaza mediators were leading a renewed push to secure a 60-day truce.

The premier told Israeli broadcaster i24NEWS that “we are not pushing them out, but we are allowing them to leave.”

“Give them the opportunity to leave, first of all, combat zones, and generally to leave the territory, if they want,” he said, citing refugee outflows during wars in Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan.

In the Gaza Strip, Israel for years has tightly controlled the borders and barred many from leaving.

“We will allow this, first of all within Gaza during the fighting, and we will certainly allow them to leave Gaza as well,” Netanyahu said.

Past calls to resettle Gazans outside of the war-battered territory, including from United States President Donald Trump, have sparked concern among Palestinians and condemnation from the international community.

For Palestinians, any effort to force them off their land would recall the “Nakba” or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.

Netanyahu has endorsed Trump’s suggestion this year to expel Gaza’s more than two million people to Egypt and Jordan, while far-right Israeli ministers have called for their “voluntary” departure.

Aid workers killed?

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said Tuesday it killed five Palestinians in an airstrike last week, accusing them of being militants who posed as humanitarian workers.

The five men were “standing near a vehicle marked with the emblem of the international humanitarian aid organization ‘World Central Kitchen’ (WCK), despite having no affiliation with the organization, and while posing a threat to our troops,” the military wrote in a statement.

It did not specify what danger the men posed.

The army also released aerial footage showing several people standing by a WCK-marked car and wearing yellow vests, commonly worn by aid workers to enhance their visibility, some of whom appear to be armed.

The vests, the army said, were meant to “conceal their activity and avoid being targeted.”

It did not say which militant group the gunmen belonged to.

Before conducting the strike, the military said it verified with WCK that the vehicle that it had identified in the Deir al-Balah area in central Gaza had no connection with the organization.

WCK confirmed to Agence France-Presse that “the vehicle and persons of interest were not affiliated” with it.

“We strongly condemn anyone posing as World Central Kitchen or other humanitarians, as this endangers civilians and aid workers. The safety and security of our teams are our top priority,” WCK added.