PALESTINIANS ALLOWED TO LEAVE GAZA??

By Anshika Khera

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday revived calls to allow Palestinians to leave the Gaza strip . Netanyahu defended his war policies when Egypt said that Gaza mediators were leading a renewed push for a 60-day truce. Netanyahu defended by saying 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 added , citing refugee outflows during wars in Ukraine, 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. Netanyahu has adopted Donald Trump’s suggestion this year to expel Gaza ‘s more than two million people to Jordan and Egypt, while Israeli Ministers have called for their voluntary departure. 

A Palestinian source earlier said that the mediators were working “to formulate a new comprehensive ceasefire agreement proposal” that would include the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza “in one batch”. Netanyahu, in his interview said that he would oppose the staggered release of hostages and instead would “want to return all of them as part of an end to the war but under our conditions”.