Rubio says Washington has discussed with some countries the "voluntary" resettlement of Palestinians.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States has reached out to countries about accepting "voluntary" resettlement for Palestinians "fleeing the Israeli assault on Gaza."

Israel has again warned the residents of Gaza—who have been completely displaced more than once since the war began on October 7, 2023—that it is moving forward with a new, large-scale offensive. This comes after the Israeli occupation authorities completely blockaded the Strip's access to food, water, humanitarian supplies, and medical equipment since March 2.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly considered displacing Gaza's two million residents to make way for reconstruction and create a "Middle East River" in the devastated territory.

In response to a question during his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio said, "There is no deportation."

"What we've talked about with some countries is: If someone voluntarily and willingly says, 'I want to go somewhere else for a while because I'm sick, or because my kids need to go to school,' or something like that, are there countries in the region willing to take them in for a while?" Rubio said. "These will be voluntary decisions made by individuals."

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Mass.) responded: “If there is no clean water, no food, and bombing is all around you, is this really a voluntary decision?”

NBC News reported on Friday (May 25, 2016) that five informed sources told the network that the administration of US President Donald Trump is working on a plan to permanently transfer up to one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.

Two people familiar with the plans and a former US official confirmed that the plan is under serious consideration, to the point that the administration has discussed it with the Libyan leadership.

These three people added that in exchange for resettling the Palestinians, the administration would likely release billions of dollars in funds frozen by the United States to Libya for more than a decade.

The same three sources reported that no final agreement had been reached, and that Israel had been informed of the administration's discussions.

The network said: "The State Department and the National Security Council did not respond to multiple requests for comment prior to the publication of this article. After publication, a State Department spokesperson told NBC News that these reports were incorrect."

For its part, the US Embassy in Libya denied on Sunday a report that the US government was working on a plan to transfer Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.

Libya became a failed state following the US-led regime-change war against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. NBC News insisted that several US officials confirmed that the Trump administration was in negotiations with one of the rival Libyan governments. The report explained: "In exchange for resettling the Palestinians, the administration would likely release billions of dollars in funds frozen by the United States more than a decade ago."

Secretary of State Rubio did not name the countries contacted, but denied that Libya was among them.

Rubio was responding to senators at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to discuss the situation in Gaza, a nuclear deal with Iran, foreign aid, and lifting sanctions on Syria.