US embassy in Tripoli denies report of plan to relocate Palestinians to Libya

TRIPOLI – The US embassy in Libya denied on May 18 a report that the US government was working on a plan to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.

On May 15, NBC News said the Trump administration was working on a plan to permanently relocate as many as one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.

It cited five people, including two with direct knowledge of the matter and a former US official.

“The report of alleged plans to relocate Gazans to Libya is untrue,” the US embassy said on X.

President Donald Trump has previously said he would like the US to take over the Gaza Strip and have its Palestinian population resettled elsewhere.

Palestinians vehemently reject any plan involving them leaving Gaza, comparing such ideas to the 1948 “Nakba”, or “catastrophe”, when hundreds of thousands were dispossessed of their homes in the war that led to the creation of Israel.

When Mr Trump first floated his idea after taking the presidency, he said he wanted US allies Egypt and Jordan to take in people from Gaza. Both states rejected the idea, which drew global condemnation, with Palestinians, Arab nations and the UN saying it would amount to ethnic cleansing.

In April, Mr Trump noted that Palestinians could be moved “around to different countries, and you have plenty of countries that will do that”.

During a visit to Qatar days ago, he reiterated his desire to take over Gaza, saying he wanted to see it become a “freedom zone” and that there was nothing left to save.

He previously said he wanted to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”. REUTERS

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