Israel’s defence minister confirms mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza will proceed

Israel’s defence minister has confirmed that the large-scale removal of Palestinians from Gaza will go ahead, with human rights groups and international lawyers saying the policy amounts to ethnic cleansing.

The minister’s statement

Israel Katz made the declaration on 28 May 2026, framing the mass displacement as “voluntary migration” while confirming it is a deliberate objective of Israeli government policy. The statement removes whatever ambiguity the Israeli government had previously maintained about its intentions toward Gaza’s civilian population.

Human rights organisations and legal experts have rejected the “voluntary” framing outright. Displacement carried out under conditions of siege, bombardment, famine, and total destruction of civilian infrastructure cannot be described as voluntary by any defensible legal or moral standard. The relevant term in international law is ethnic cleansing.

What “voluntary” means in Gaza

Gaza’s population has been subjected to continuous bombardment since October 2023. The territory’s housing stock, hospitals, water infrastructure, and food supply have been systematically destroyed. Palestinians in Gaza are not choosing to leave in the way a person chooses to move house. They are being made to leave by the deliberate elimination of the conditions that make life possible.

Israeli government ministers, including those in Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, have stated publicly and repeatedly that the depopulation of Gaza is a war aim. Katz’s statement is confirmation, not a change of policy.

The legal position

The forced transfer of a civilian population is prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention and constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute. The “voluntary” label does not alter the legal assessment if the conditions producing that departure are themselves the product of unlawful force.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and B’Tselem have each documented the systematic destruction of the conditions of civilian life in Gaza. The International Court of Justice is considering a genocide case brought by South Africa.

The British government has not halted arms sales to Israel. It called the Katz statement “deeply concerning”.