Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), put forward this accusation in a Dec. 9 op-ed for the Los Angeles Times. He wrote that the current policy and humanitarian discussions have left a majority of Palestinians no choice but to leave Gaza and never return to their destroyed homes.
"The UN and several member states, including the U.S., have firmly rejected forcibly displacing Gazans out of the Gaza Strip," Lazzarini wrote. "But the developments we are witnessing point to attempts to move Palestinians into Egypt, regardless of whether they stay there or are resettled elsewhere."
The UNRWA head also pointed out that survivors of Israel's onslaught on the strip are now confined to a "tiny area" of southern Gaza near the Egyptian border, where their only viable option seems to be leaving the enclave altogether. Moreover, he also expressed doubt that these Palestinians would still be allowed or willing to return home anytime soon. (Related: Intelligence Ministry of Israel proposes displacing 2.3 million Gazans to Sinai in Egypt.)
Even the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) said it has no plans to return unless a full peace agreement is signed with Israel. Mohammed Shtayyeh, the PNA's prime minister, has also said that the authority will not return to Gaza "on the back of Israeli tanks."
"There will be no return of the [PNA] to the Gaza Strip as the Israelis suggested, and that has to be clear. We are for a political solution," PNA Social Development Minister Ahmed Majdalani told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
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"Gaza is part of the other Palestinian lands and the solution should be under the supervision of the UN. All legal decisions on Palestine already in place should be implemented under the authority of the UN, and there should be a timeline for all these decisions."
Lazzarini ultimately warned in his LA Times op-ed: "If this path continues, leading to what many are already calling a second Nakba, Gaza will not be a land for Palestinians anymore."
A spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Defense refuted the UNRWA head's claims, noting that the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has never developed any plan to push Gazans into Egypt.
However, a Wall Street Journal op-ed published in November stated otherwise. The piece by Danny Danon and Ram Ben-Barak – members of the Knesset, Israel's unicameral parliament – suggested that other countries should accept limited numbers of Gazan families who choose to relocate.
"Countries around the world should offer a haven for Gaza residents who seek relocation," wrote the two lawmakers. "We simply need a handful of the world's nations to share the responsibility of hosting Gazan residents."
Netanyahu also reiterated that he would not allow Palestinians to return to the Gaza Strip during a November press conference.
"There will also not be a civil authority that educates its children to hate Israel, to kill Israelis, to eliminate the State of Israel. There cannot be an authority that pays the families of murderers [amounts] based on the number they murdered. There cannot be an authority whose leader still has not condemned the terrible massacre [on Oct. 7]. That cannot be," the Israeli leader declared.
In other words, Israel is not just after Hamas. It wants the whole Gaza Strip.
Follow IsraelCollapse.com for more news about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Watch Kash Patel and Steve Bannon talk about the failure of Israel's intelligence amid the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.
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