The Trump administration is reportedly evaluating a contentious plan to permanently relocate up to one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to war-torn Libya, according to five individuals familiar with the proposal, NBC News reports. The plan, while denied by a State Department spokesperson after publication, has allegedly been discussed at high levels, including with Libyan political leadership.
Sources familiar with the initiative say that the U.S. administration has proposed unlocking billions of dollars in frozen Libyan assets—held since the fall of dictator Moammar Gadhafi—in exchange for Libya agreeing to absorb a substantial number of Palestinians. Discussions have been described as preliminary but serious, with Israel reportedly kept informed.
The State Department initially declined to comment but later denied the report outright. “These reports are untrue,” a spokesperson stated. “The situation on the ground is untenable for such a plan. Such a plan was not discussed and makes no sense.”
Still, multiple sources — including a former U.S. official — confirmed that logistical details such as transportation methods, housing options, and financial incentives for displaced Palestinians have been part of internal conversations. These incentives may include free housing and stipends for those willing to relocate.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim strongly rejected any such relocation plans. “Palestinians are very rooted in their homeland,” he told NBC News. “They are ready to fight up to the end… to defend their land, their homeland, their families, and the future of their children.” Naim insisted that Palestinians, not foreign powers, have the sole right to determine their future.
The feasibility of moving up to a million Palestinians to Libya raises serious humanitarian and logistical questions. Libya is a fractured state, still reeling from over a decade of civil war and governed by two rival administrations—Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s western government and Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based Libyan National Army. Both factions are engaged in active conflict.
The U.S. government itself advises against any travel to Libya due to “crime, terrorism, unexploded landmines, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict.” Libya’s infrastructure, already under severe strain, is seen by many analysts as incapable of absorbing a population increase equivalent to 14% of its current population—roughly 7.36 million.
No comment was received from either Dbeibah’s government or Haftar’s camp.
Critics say the plan represents a troubling echo of historical population transfers and forced displacements. The notion of solving the Gaza crisis by removing its people rather than addressing underlying political injustices is seen by many as both unethical and impractical.“This is ethnic cleansing masquerading as diplomacy,” said a Middle East analyst who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the topic. “You cannot solve a national struggle by exporting its people.”
Legal experts have also pointed out that such a relocation—especially if done under duress or in exchange for economic leverage—could constitute a violation of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The timing and seriousness of the plan remain unclear. Some speculate it may be more political posturing than actionable policy, given the immense financial, political, and logistical barriers involved. Others fear that even floating such ideas publicly could dangerously shift discourse around the future of Gaza, from reconstruction and sovereignty to depopulation and displacement.
While the administration has previously floated ideas such as Arab states financing Gaza's post-war rebuilding, the idea of permanently resettling its population has drawn sharp rebuke across the Palestinian political spectrum and among international human rights organizations.
The reported discussions signal a disturbing direction in U.S. Middle East policy if true. Proposals to depopulate Gaza under the guise of humanitarian relocation not only ignore Palestinians’ rights and self-determination but also threaten to worsen regional instability. As Gaza continues to suffer under blockade and bombardment, any long-term solution must center justice, not expediency — and certainly not forced exile.
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