Axios: Israel discusses with Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Libya the possibility of receiving residents from Gaza.

Mossad chief David Barnea, who visited Washington this week, reportedly asked US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, for US assistance in deporting Gaza residents, possibly to Ethiopia, Libya, or Indonesia.

Barnea visited Washington this week as Israel seeks the Trump administration's help in deporting Palestinians from Gaza, Axios reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

The two sources said that Barnea informed the US special envoy and Tekoff that Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Libya had expressed their willingness to receive Palestinian refugees from Gaza, and that Washington should offer "incentives" to those countries to agree to the transfer.

However, Witkoff has not made a commitment on the issue, according to the source.

US officials also say the White House is reluctant to transfer Palestinians from Gaza amid opposition from Arab states.

These efforts come months after US President Donald Trump proposed (on February 4, 2025) the indefinite transfer of all Gaza residents during the Strip's reconstruction, turning Gaza into a Middle Eastern riviera. Arab countries and most Western countries strongly opposed the idea, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition enthusiastically supported it.

Israeli officials told the website that the Trump administration informed them that if Netanyahu wanted to move forward with this idea, he would have to find countries willing to accept Palestinians from Gaza.

Netanyahu tasked the Israeli foreign intelligence agency, Mossad, with finding countries willing to accept large numbers of Palestinians displaced from the Gaza Strip.

Nearly all Palestinians in Gaza were displaced during the war, often multiple times, and most buildings in Gaza were damaged or destroyed.

Israel is developing a plan to transfer the entire two million residents of the Gaza Strip to a small "humanitarian zone" near the border with Egypt, which experts around the world acknowledge will become a detention center similar to the Nazi concentration camps where Jews were held during World War II.

This plan has raised concerns in Egypt and many Western countries that Israel is preparing for a mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, something Netanyahu's ultranationalist coalition partners and many within his own party have been pushing for years.

A senior Israeli official claimed that, as part of the understandings with the three countries, the transfer of Palestinians would be "voluntary, not forced," and that Israel would commit to allowing any Palestinian leaving Gaza to return to it at any time.

However, the idea that these mass deportations can be considered “voluntary” under these circumstances is controversial.

It's worth noting that when Netanyahu visited the White House last week, Trump was asked about this issue, and he referred it to the Israeli prime minister. Netanyahu said that Israel is working "very closely" with the United States to find countries that will agree to accept Palestinians from Gaza, and he confirmed that "we are close to finding several countries."

Netanyahu said, "I think President Trump had a wonderful vision. It's called freedom of choice. You know, if people want to stay, they can, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave. It shouldn't be a prison situation."

Axios reported that after dinner at the White House (July 7, 2025), a senior Israeli official told reporters that Trump had expressed interest in continuing to push for the "deportation" of Palestinians from Gaza. The White House did not comment on the matter at the time.