Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir again called for a mass evacuation of Palestinians from Gaza on Wednesday, rejecting US criticism that his previous statements on such a scenario “are irresponsible”, AFP reported.

“The United States is our good friend, but first and foremost we will do what is right for the State of Israel: encouraging the emigration of hundreds of thousands of people from Gaza will allow the people (of Israel) to return to their homes (from the Gaza Strip) and live in safety, protecting our soldiers,” wrote Ben Gvir on the X social network in response to US criticism.

Ben Gvir, the leader of the far-right pro-settler Jewish Power party, called on Monday for Jewish settlers to return to Gaza after the current war and to “encourage” the Palestinian population to emigrate, a day after another far-right minister, Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, made a similar call.

Deportation of the entire population is a crime against humanity

Expulsion of the population from its territory is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions, which form the basis of international humanitarian law.

The Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) considers “deportation or forced transfer of population” a crime against humanity.

“The United States rejects recent statements by Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir advocating the resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday, calling the statements “irresponsible.”

“The Israeli people support the voluntary emigration of Arabs from Gaza”

Smotrich, who heads the Religious Zionist Party, returned to the attack on Wednesday, saying that “70 percent of the Israeli people support the voluntary emigration of Arabs from Gaza and their absorption by other countries.”

According to him, “supporters of such a humanitarian decision understand that a small country like ours cannot afford a reality where just four minutes from our cities there is a hotbed of hatred and terror, where two million people find themselves every morning because of the desire to destroy the state of Israel “.

During a private visit to Paris in March, Smotrych denied the existence of the Palestinian people. “There are no Palestinians because there is no Palestinian people,” he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which combines right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, has already been accused of significantly increasing settler influence in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.