US rejects Israeli suggestions of removing Palestinians from Gaza

Meanwhile, the United States has rejected calls by top Israeli authorities that the Palestinians should be removed from Gaza in a rare public display of disagreement with Israel.

Key points

• The White House referred Al Jazeera to a social media post by Trump in August celebrating an agreement to disarm Hamas.
• "The United States does not support any plan or proposal for the forced displacement, expulsion, or mandatory transfer of the population of Gaza, " the spokesperson remarked.
• "In the end, there is no real solution for Gaza without this migration, " Katz remarked on Wednesday.
• But Israel rejected the proposal, saying that it would not create any concessions until Gaza is fully demilitarised.
• Arab states, including some close allies of the US, have forcefully rejected any effort to remove Palestinians from their land.

Asked regarding Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz's call for de-populating Gaza as the only "solution" to the crisis, the US State Department reiterated Washington's commitment to President Donald Trump's 20-point "peace plan" that established the "ceasefire" last year.

"As explicitly stated in Point 12 of the President's plan: 'No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return. We will encourage individuals to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza, '" a State Department spokesperson informed Al Jazeera in an official note on Friday.

According to Katz had, trump had only "frozen" – not cancelled – his backing for removing Palestinians from the territory – a proposal that rights advocates say would amount to ethnic cleansing.

Israeli authorities have been using "migration" as a euphemism for de-populating Gaza.

Katz remarked the Israeli administration is ready to obtain Palestinians out of Gaza "by sea, by air and by any means to do it" and the idea is still "being discussed all the time".

Meanwhile, the White House referred Al Jazeera to a social media post by Trump in August celebrating an agreement to disarm Hamas.

In practice, the accord would include gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the almost daily deadly attacks on the territory.

In short, US rejects Israeli suggestions of removing Palestinians from Gaza is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.