TEL AVIV, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Wednesday that the government does not plan to deport Palestinians from Gaza, after two Israeli ministers this month floated proposals for the mass removal of Palestinians from the coastal territory.
• “We are not planning to expel or to deport anyone from (the) Gaza Strip,” Saar told a press conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
• “If someone wants to immigrate (on) his own will, and there is a country which is ready to accept him …. we will not oppose that, but we will (also) not enforce anyone against (their) will,” he said.
• Saar is in Slovenia to open the Israeli embassy in Ljubljana.
• Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said on September 2 there was “no real solution for Gaza in the end without this migration” of Palestinians.
• Far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on September 3 outlined a seven-year plan for removing Gaza’s population through what he described as “voluntary emigration.”
• The U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has said that Israel has no plans to force Palestinians to leave Gaza.
• Israel is to hold a general election on October 27.
(Reporting by Alexander CornwellEditing by Ros Russell)
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