On Friday, the Palestinian Hamas movement called on Arab and Islamic countries to confront “the occupation’s plans to displace” Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, following statements in this regard made by two Israeli ministers this week.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement carried by Agence France-Presse: “The escalation of statements by ministers in the occupation government regarding the continued adoption of plans to displace the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip represents an extremely dangerous development, and reveals that the occupation has not abandoned this plan,” calling on “Arab and Islamic countries to take serious and united action to confront these plans, and to take effective positions and measures to thwart them.”
On Thursday, the far-right Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, presented a plan to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian residents and deport them abroad.
Ben Gvir, whose hard-line stances are often criticized by the West, set a goal of removing 250,000 Palestinians from Gaza within one year, and then leaving the rest - an estimated 2 million people - in the following 6 years.
Ben Gvir, one of the most prominent faces of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government coalition, said that what he is proposing is "a realistic matter," noting that several countries are "ready" to receive the residents of Gaza, without specifying them.
He added: “We must encourage the migration of Gazans,” noting that the plan does not mean “forcing” Palestinians to leave their land.
In turn, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said on Wednesday that Israel has ready plans to remove the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, but is waiting for the United States to determine the place to which they can be transferred.
“In the end, there is no real solution for Gaza without this migration,” Katz said. He added that the Israeli government “is organized and prepared to expel them, by sea, air, and by every possible means.”
The forced displacement of civilians in occupied territories is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.
The idea put forward by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Defense Minister, Yisrael Katz, who commissioned the army to prepare a vision for its implementation, and which relates to transferring the model of the experimental areas in Lebanon to the Gaza Strip, is sparking controversy in Tel Aviv between those who consider it a serious proposal for progress in implementing the plan of the US President, Donald Trump, and those who question it and see it as a new ploy for further procrastination.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, the idea is to select areas located outside the yellow line and where the Israeli army is not currently deployed, provided that international forces enter them to work on dismantling the armed infrastructure and establishing an alternative management system. However, in return, Israel will maintain its ability to monitor and control these areas securityally through intelligence and air surveillance and the ability to carry out strikes when needed, without a permanent Israeli ground deployment within them.
According to the newspaper, the plan comes within the framework of an attempt to find a model that allows for the administration of areas of Gaza away from Hamas control, while benefiting from the experience of southern Lebanon. But skeptics assert that implementing the model in Gaza faces greater challenges, especially in light of the absence of an agreed-upon Palestinian body to take over civil and security administration. Therefore, the talk is currently about a vision and plan under study, and not about a final agreement or the start of its actual implementation.
Skeptics believe that the Israeli government is putting forward this idea for the purpose of stalling and absorbing American anger at the obstacles it places in the way of implementing President Trump's plan. According to the newspaper "Haaretz", Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the US President, and Nikolai Mladenov, the High Representative of the Peace Council in Gaza, even criticize their colleague Aryeh Lightstone, whom the White House has so far entrusted with implementing Trump's twenty-point plan on the ground, and they consider him "lenient, not assertive, and cannot manage negotiations with Israel in the way the White House wants." The source added that Tony Blair, another prominent member of the Peace Council, has expressed in recent days his dissatisfaction with Lightstone's direction in this process.
The newspaper confirms that the Americans mention a number of incidents that demonstrate Israel's lack of seriousness and its continued obstruction. Among them:
The agreement between Israel, Germany, and the United States to operate the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing and install an advanced German inspection device, to ensure speed and efficiency, and to place a similar device at the port of Ashdod, to prevent traffic congestion at the Kerem Shalom crossing, and facilitate the transfer of aid to Gaza in various ways, and thus, expand its scope.
The timetables changed over the months but were known to everyone and were probably agreed upon between the parties. On August 21, the new German ambassador to Israel, Alexander Landstorff, published a celebratory tweet accompanied by pictures of a modest celebration held at the Erez crossing, and wrote that the new device installed there would ensure “more aid reaches Gaza, while preserving Israel’s security.” But about a week later, Netanyahu and Katz issued a joint statement saying: “There are no directives to open the Erez crossing for goods.” Since then, international diplomats at the coordination center in Kiryat Gat have been waiting in bewilderment for the solution to the telling puzzle.
A glaring example of the essence of this impasse is Israel's prevention of peacekeeping forces from entering Gaza. At the end of July, before Netanyahu's visit to Washington, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement from an anonymous political source stating that the Council of Ministers had approved the entry of 200 soldiers “from Uganda and Morocco.” At the end of August, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement denying this, saying: “Contrary to reports, the political leadership did not agree to the entry of international forces into the Gaza Strip.” In fact, the office should have begun this statement with the phrase “contrary to our previous statements.”
Another example of the policy followed by the Netanyahu government is Israel's efforts to prevent thousands of Gazans recruited by the technical committee for the new police forces in Gaza, and prevent them from leaving the Strip to train in Egypt. According to the same source, the Council fears that even if the recruits are allowed to leave, Israel may prevent them from returning after the training ends under the pretext of security.
The newspaper says that the issue is not a matter of disagreements, but rather an issue of outright sabotage, and at best something governed by electoral pressure.
The release of five detainees held by Israel, three Lebanese and two Syrians, opens a new phase in the file of prisoners and missing persons, with an official Lebanese source confirming to Asharq Al-Awsat that the step constitutes the beginning of a path that will continue in the upcoming negotiations, starting with civilians and ending with addressing the file of all prisoners.
On the other hand, an updated list seen by Asharq Al-Awsat reveals that none of the three released Lebanese are included among its 36 names, which raises a question about the actual size of the file and the accuracy of counting detainees and missing persons.
On Friday, the release process, which began on Thursday, was completed with the handover of the Lebanese Malek Kamal Ghazi, after the International Committee of the Red Cross transferred four additional people released by Israel to Lebanon, before handing them over to the Lebanese authorities in the south.
Thus, the total number of people released within two days reached five people: Ghazi, who was handed over on Thursday, the Lebanese Ali Hassan Shor and Hussein Abdullah Mahmoud Ayyash, and the Syrians Asaad Mahmoud Al-Hasika and Wissam Ibrahim Al-Samawi, who were handed over on Friday, making the total three Lebanese and two Syrians, contrary to the first Israeli announcement, which spoke of five “Lebanese citizens.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that it had facilitated, at the request of the parties concerned, the transfer of the five people, explaining that one person was transferred on Thursday and four others on Friday.
The beginning of a path
An official source familiar with the prisoner file confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the issue will not stop at the current batch, and will remain part of the Lebanese demands in communications and the negotiating process.
The source said, “The release of the five prisoners constitutes the beginning of a process that is being completed, and the matter will not be limited to those who have been released so far,” stressing that “the Lebanese demand will continue until all the prisoners are released.”
The source explained that “the beginning in the current stage will be with civilians, with work continuing later to address the file of all prisoners,” noting that “the number of civilians was, according to available information, around 23 people, but the number may have increased later as a result of the arrest of people during the war or after the ceasefire, including those who were arrested while they were heading to inspect their homes.”
He added, "Lebanon will present in the next negotiations, when they are held, the demand to complete the release of prisoners, and will not be satisfied with the release of the five who were handed over, including two Syrians."
The source stressed that “the prisoners’ file is present in all communications and meetings that Lebanese officials hold with foreign officials and delegates,” noting that “it was raised at the highest levels, including in conversations with US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.” He stressed that “the Lebanese position is clear, which is to continue working and make every possible effort to return all the prisoners, without being satisfied with the batch that was released.”
The three Lebanese are outside the list of 36
The updated list of prisoners and missing persons gives an additional dimension to the process. It includes 36 names, but the names of those who were released during the two days are not included.
At the same time, the 36 names do not represent the 36 confirmed Lebanese prisoners in Israeli prisons. The list brings together detainees whose whereabouts have been reported, missing persons whose fate has not been decided, and cases, some of which go back decades.
The oldest cases listed begin with Yahya Muhammad Skaf since 1978, then Abdullah Khalil Alyan since 1981, and the fisherman Muhammad Adel Al-Farran, who has been missing since 2005, but the majority of cases are related to the last war and its aftermath.
The list shows a group of detainees during the year 2024, especially in Aita al-Shaab and Blida, in addition to Imad Fadel Amhaz, who was arrested in Batroun. The cases expanded after the ceasefire to include civilians who, according to data, were arrested from their towns, while trying to return to them, or during their work.
The recorded cases will continue during the year 2026, including arrests in Khiam, Halta, Shebaa, Qantara, and Bint Jbeil, in addition to three farmers who the list says were arrested while working in their fields in Halta, which is consistent with the official source’s talk about the possibility of an increase in the number of detained civilians as a result of subsequent arrests.
Aoun: “The first step”
President Joseph Aoun described the release as “the first step,” thanking the endeavors and efforts made, especially by the United States, led by President Donald Trump, and international bodies, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Aoun believed that the step reaffirms the necessity of completing what was stipulated in the tripartite framework of action, leading to the restoration of full Lebanese sovereignty, “not detracting from an inch of our land, nor detracting from our people.”
Aoun renewed his commitment to continuing work to achieve Lebanese demands, to achieve a homeland on whose land “there are no weapons except for its legitimate forces alone, and no sovereignty over its people except for its protecting, guarantor, capable and just state.”
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in turn, confirmed that the return of any liberated Lebanese constitutes an important step on the way to addressing the issue, thanking the American administration, especially Ambassador Michel Issa, for the efforts made.
Salam stressed that work will continue until all prisoners are released, the fate of the missing is revealed, and complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory is achieved.
