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Official says Israel is helping Gaza residents emigrate

More than 35,000 Palestinians left the Hamas-run Gaza Strip last year.

Palestinian protesters at the Israel-Gaza border on June 28, 2019. Photo by Hassan Jedi/Flash90.
Palestinian protesters at the Israel-Gaza border on June 28, 2019. Photo by Hassan Jedi/Flash90.

Israel is facilitating the emigration of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to other countries, a senior Israeli official said on Monday.

The Jewish state is reportedly considering allowing Gazans to fly from an Israeli air field near Gaza, the official said, according to media reports. The official is part of the delegation currently with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Ukraine.

Israel is helping coordinate with other countries to find new homes for the emigrants, the official said, adding that more than 35,000 Palestinians left Gaza last year.

None of the European and Middle Eastern countries that Israel approached about accepting the Gazans would take them, according to the official who mentioned that the operation had been discussed several times in the cabinet.

The Palestinian terror group Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Since then, Israel and Egypt have imposed a security blockade on the territory, which it argues is aimed at curbing weapons and materials the terror group could use to attack the Jewish state.

Hamas has launched tens of thousands of rockets as well as incendiary balloons and other explosive devices at Israel over the years, while also constructing tunnels to infiltrate and carry out attacks inside of Israel.

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