The Donald Trump administration is considering a plan to permanently relocate as many as a million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, it has been reported.
White House sources told NBC News that the idea had been discussed with Libya’s leadership and is being seriously considered.
In exchange, the Trump administration would release billions of dollars of funds to Libya that the US froze more than a decade ago.
The story was leaked as Israel’s military announced it had launched another offensive in Gaza, with the enclave’s health ministry later reporting that more than 100 people, most of whom were women and children, had been killed in airstrikes.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the US had discussed with Tripoli the possibility of releasing around $30 billion in funds frozen since the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled by a Nato-backed uprising in 2011. However, this was believed to be in exchange for the US having access to the unfrozen funds themselves to reinvest in Libya, and made no mention of housing displaced Palestinians.
Libya remains a war-torn country battling with the aftermath of the end of Gaddafi’s rule, and is under the control of two opposing authorities.
The US State Department advises its citizens to avoid travelling to Libya due to the threat of “crime, terrorism, unexploded landmines, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict”.
Mr Trump publicly announced the possibility of relocating Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants back in February, drawing fierce criticism from the international community. He also spoke of turning Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
During a trip to the Gulf this week, his first official overseas tour since returning to the White House in January, Mr Trump said of Gaza that “we’ve got to get that taken car of” and discussed the need to turn the enclave into a “freedom zone”. He did not elaborate on what that meant.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military said late on Friday that it had launched “extensive attacks and mobilised forces to seize strategic areas in the Gaza Strip”.
The military said it was part of the “opening moves” of its latest offensive, which, it says, is aimed at securing the release of the remaining 58 hostages and the defeat of Hamas.
Israel began its full-scale attacks on Gaza after Hamas launched a cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking a further 251 hostage.
Israel’s retaliatory attacks have killed more than 53,000 people, reduced Gaza to rubble and displaced nearly all of its inhabitants, according to the local health ministry.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that the population of Gaza would be displaced following his security cabinet’s approval of an expanded military operation. One minister described the plan as intended to “conquer” the territory.
Palestinians inside the enclave say they have nowhere left to go now.
“Where should I go today? To west Gaza? There’s bombing in west Gaza. To the south? They’re killing people in Khan Younis. To Deir al-Balah? There is bombing. Me, my children and my family, where should we go?” said Fadi Tamboura, sitting crying next to a crater left by an overnight strike.
Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed more than 250 people since Thursday morning, local health authorities said on Friday, one of the deadliest phases of bombardment since a truce collapsed in March.
Israel has faced increasing international isolation over its campaign in Gaza, with even the United States, its staunchest ally, expressing unease over the scale of the destruction and the dire situation caused by its blockade on deliveries of food and other vital aid.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was “troubled” by the humanitarian situation.
