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Israeli political and security officials have replaced the term "voluntary migration" with "Free Movement Plan" when referring to plans to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, Israel's Channel 13 reported, amid international concerns over forced displacement.
Citing unnamed informed sources, Channel 13 said instructions were circulated to relevant bodies, including security and intelligence institutions, "to reintroduce the initiative using language deemed more acceptable internationally."
Sources involved in contacts with concerned countries "expressed optimism that the change in terminology could help shift those countries' positions and revive the plan after earlier setbacks," the channel reported.
A senior Israeli official, whose name was not disclosed, acknowledged that Hamas "still exists" in the Gaza Strip and said Israel is seeking to push "as many Palestinians in Gaza as possible" to leave.
In April, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had tasked his international affairs adviser, Caroline Glick, with advancing plans to relocate Palestinians.
The efforts included contacts with the breakaway region of Somaliland and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, though they yielded no results, according to the report.
Channel 12 reported in December 2025 that Israel's security establishment had presented the government with a plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza by land, sea and air.
Contacts with several countries, however, failed to produce any agreement, the report said.
Israel has repeatedly framed the displacement of Palestinians under the concept of "voluntary migration."
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The ongoing war, widespread destruction and tightened blockade in the Gaza Strip have drawn repeated warnings from the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and Arab states against forced displacement.
Israel's genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023 has killed more than 73,000 people, injured more than 173,000 and caused massive destruction to about 90% of the enclave's infrastructure.
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