Governance out, voluntary emigration in: National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir will present one of the central components of his election campaign to the public Thursday: “Disengagement 710,” a national plan to encourage voluntary emigration from Gaza. The initiative — which comes after Ben-Gvir instructed his campaign staff to play down his plan for crocodiles outside prisons — will also be a key demand by Otzma Yehudit in any negotiations to join the next government.
It must be said at the outset that beyond the fact that the initiative is likely to spark an uproar in the political system and draw harsh international criticism, no country has so far been found that is willing to accept migrants from Gaza. In addition, Ben-Gvir’s migration plan is the equivalent of the governance plan he promised in the previous campaign and largely failed to deliver, given the surge in murders in Arab society.
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Ben-Gvir is making the voluntary transfer of Gazans a condition of entering the next government
(Photo: Omar al-Qattaa/ AFP, Kobe Koenaks)
Trump’s initiative
Since October 7, the idea of voluntary emigration from Gaza has come up repeatedly: first by U.S. President Donald Trump in February 2025, after a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and later in diplomatic discussions and Cabinet meetings. While Netanyahu expressed reservations behind closed doors about a broad move of this kind, Ben-Gvir was an enthusiastic supporter.
Trump's 20-point plan says the Gazans will stay in the strip
(Photo: Alex Brandon/AP)
At certain stages, Netanyahu even advanced the plan in an effort to persuade Ben-Gvir to remain in the government. Netanyahu also held several dedicated discussions on the issue and briefed members of the narrow Cabinet on contacts underway with several African countries, including Ethiopia, Congo and Somaliland, in an attempt to persuade them to accept Palestinians who would leave Gaza.
But the plan never really got off the ground. The Americans backed away from Trump’s idea, and the U.S. president’s 20-point plan explicitly stated that Gaza residents would remain in the Strip and that voluntary migration would not be encouraged.
A senior Israeli official said Wednesday in this context: “Do you know a country willing to take in Gazans in significant numbers? If so, give me one. For emigration, you need people who want to migrate and a country willing to take them in. The second part exists even less than the first. If people wanted to leave and there were a country willing to accept them, it would happen — no one could prevent it. And there have been departures. There still are today. On a more limited scale — medical treatment, studies. At the beginning of the war, there was somewhat greater movement into Egypt.”
The Emigration Ministry
But Ben-Gvir is not giving up and intends to market the migration plan as a central part of his election campaign. He says he has been working for months on a comprehensive plan, which he will unveil to the public Thursday.
The plan, called “Disengagement 710,” sets an ambitious target: the voluntary departure of 250,000 Gaza residents in the first year, 1.11 million within three years and about 1.86 million within seven years.
Under the plan, every individual or family choosing to leave Gaza would receive a personalized pathway that includes an approved destination country, legal status, documents and visas, travel funding, initial housing, vocational training, employment assistance and support for up to 24 months. Among the countries being considered as possible destinations, according to Ben-Gvir, are Turkey, Ethiopia, Congo and a number of Arab states.
The plan is based on 12 principles: voluntary departure only; no departure without a destination country and regulated legal status; an individual file for every person and family; preservation of family unity; creation of a broad range of destination countries; employment, study, medical, family and community sponsorship tracks; an absorption and rehabilitation package; payments to countries and absorption agencies based on performance; individual security screening; international partnership; annual implementation targets; and transparency through monthly reporting on the number of applications, approvals, departures, costs and absorption in destination countries.
Netanyahu in Gaza - he has reservations about the plan
(Photo: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
The cost of the plan is astronomical: an initial Israeli investment of 10 billion shekels to establish and launch it, alongside an Israeli matching framework of up to 50 billion shekels, subject to international participation and agreements with receiving countries.
Otzma Yehudit will make the plan a condition for joining the next government. As part of coalition negotiations, Ben-Gvir will demand the establishment of a dedicated government ministry for voluntary emigration, including a minister, director general, budget, authorities, an international negotiating team and an independent implementation apparatus.
Ben-Gvir has previously demanded the establishment of a national authority to encourage the emigration of Israeli Arabs deemed “disloyal” to Israel, as well as Palestinians — plans that were never advanced because they had no realistic chance of implementation.
For Ben-Gvir, this is also an ideological closing of the circle. In the 1990s, it was Rehavam Ze’evi and the Moledet party who caused an uproar by introducing the idea of transfer into public discourse. Ben-Gvir is seeking to present a different model: not forced expulsion, but the creation of economic incentives and a legal, regulated pathway for voluntary emigration.
Ben-Gvir presents the plan as a direct lesson from October 7 and the 2005 disengagement: “On October 7, the conception that it was possible to withdraw, retreat behind a fence and buy quiet through money and concessions collapsed. ‘Disengagement 710’ is not a repeat of the disengagement — it is its correction.”
Ben-Gvir, incidentally, is planning a broad billboard campaign to promote the initiative. He is also planning a similar billboard campaign in several African countries.
Will it remain a gimmick?
The question is whether Ben-Gvir’s plan will remain merely an election gimmick or be incorporated into the next government’s basic policy guidelines. That depends first and foremost on who forms the next government and whether there is a right-wing government.
With this plan, Ben-Gvir is seeking to outflank Netanyahu from the right and lock him into the idea of voluntary transfer. The person who brought the voluntary emigration plan back to the forefront is Ofer Winter, who included it in his election platform.
It is important to stress: There is considerable doubt that the Trump administration would support the idea, and the plan would certainly face fierce opposition from the international community. There is also serious doubt that any countries would openly agree to accept significant numbers of Gazan migrants. Israel has already held talks with several countries in the past and ran into a wall.