The Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate as many as one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, NBC News reported on Friday, citing five people with knowledge of the matter.
NBC reported that the plan is under serious consideration, and the US has discussed it with Libya's leadership.
In exchange for resettling the Palestinians, the administration would release to Libya billions of dollars of funds the US froze more than a decade ago.
Palestinians may be incentivised to leave with the promise of a stipend and housing.
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, claimed the terror group was unaware of plans to relocate Palestinians to Libya but condemned the rumored relocation plans nonetheless.
“Palestinians are very rooted in their homeland, very strongly committed to the homeland, and they are ready to fight up to the end and to sacrifice anything to defend their land, their homeland, their families, and the future of their children,” Naim said in response to questions from NBC News.
“[Palestinians] are exclusively the only party who have the right to decide for the Palestinians, including Gaza and Gazans, what to do and what not to do.”
The alleged plans come amid significant civil tensions in Libya, where protesters have demanded that members of the government resign.
Donald Trump's plans for Gaza
Trump said on Thursday that he would like to see the US take control of the Gaza Strip, deal with Hamas, and turn it into a freedom zone.
“If it’s necessary, I think I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone,” he said during a business roundtable.
“Let some good things happen, put people in homes where they can be safe, and Hamas is going to have to be dealt with,” Trump said.
“They’ve never solved the Gaza problem, and if you look at it, I have aerial shots,” he said. “I mean, there’s practically no building standing; there’s no building. People are living under the rubble of buildings that collapsed, which is not acceptable. It’s a tremendous death. And I want to see that be a freedom zone.”
Previous Trump plans for the relocation of Gaza civilians have included seeing Palestinians transferred to Egypt and Jordan.
Civil unrest in Libya amid Gaza relocation plans
Hundreds of Libyan protesters called on Friday for the ouster of the internationally recognised prime minister, Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and at least three ministers resigned in sympathy with the protesters.
The demonstrators gathered in Martyrs' Square in Tripoli, chanting slogans such as "The nation wants to topple the government” and “We want elections.”
They then marched to the main government building in the city center. "We won't leave until he leaves," one protester said.
The marchers carried pictures of Dbeibah, national security adviser Ibrahim Dbeibah, and Interior Minister Emad Tarbulsi, with their faces crossed out in red
Dbeibah, who leads the divided country's Government of National Unity, came to power through a UN-backed process in 2021. Planned elections failed to proceed that year because of disagreements among rival factions, and he has remained in power.
On Friday, businessman Wael Abdulhafed said, "We are (here) today to express our anger against Dbeibah and all those in power for years now and prevent elections. They must leave power."
Calls for Dbeibah to resign increased after two rival armed groups clashed in the capital this week in the heaviest fighting in years. Eight civilians were killed, according to the United Nations.
Violence flared after the prime minister on Tuesday ordered the armed groups to be dismantled. Demonstrators have accused Dbeibah of failing to restore stability and of being complicit in the growing power of armed groups.
Economy and Trade Minister Mohamed al-Hawij, Local Government Minister Badr Eddin al-Tumi, and Minister of Housing Abu Bakr al-Ghawi resigned on Friday.
Militia leader Abdulghani Kikli, widely known as Ghaniwa, died in the clashes, which calmed on Wednesday after the government announced a ceasefire.
Libya has had little stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted longtime autocrat Muammar Gaddafi. The country split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions, though an outbreak of major warfare paused with a truce in 2020.
While eastern Libya has been dominated for a decade by commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army, control in Tripoli and western Libya has been splintered among numerous armed factions.
The main oil facilities in the major energy exporter are located in southern and eastern Libya, far from the fighting in Tripoli. Engineers at several oil fields and export terminals told Reuters output remained unaffected by the clashes.