A drone view shows Palestinians walking past the rubble, following Israeli forces’ withdrawal from the area, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City, Oct. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

About 10,500 Palestinians have left the Gaza Strip over the past year while roughly 6,000 have returned, new figures show, challenging accusations that Israel is seeking to forcibly remove Gaza’s population.

The vast majority of those departures were connected to medical evacuations, according to Israeli border crossing data obtained by Zman Israel.

Since the October 2025 ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, 3,015 patients have left Gaza for treatment along with 5,220 relatives or caregivers, according to World Health Organization figures. Together, they accounted for 8,235 of the roughly 10,500 departures.

About 2,300 others left for reasons including study abroad, family reunification, and residency or citizenship in foreign countries. More than 6,000 departed through the Rafah crossing with Egypt and about 4,500 through the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, while the roughly 6,000 people who returned to Gaza entered through Rafah.

The figures came a day after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar rejected claims that Israel intends to forcibly expel Palestinians from the enclave, while saying those who want to leave voluntarily should be permitted to do so. 

“We are not planning to expel or to deport anyone from Gaza,” Sa’ar said on Wednesday during a visit to Slovenia. “If someone wants to immigrate from his own will and there is a country which is ready to accept him, as it happens from any conflict area in the world, we will not oppose that.” He added: “But we will not force anyone against his will.”

Sa’ar’s comments came amid renewed calls from senior Israeli ministers to facilitate large-scale voluntary emigration from Gaza. Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier this month that there was “no real solution for Gaza in the end without this migration,” adding that Israel was prepared to help Gazans leave “by sea, by air, by every way possible” if countries could be found willing to receive them. 

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir last week unveiled a proposal to facilitate the voluntary departure of 250,000 Gazans in its first year, rising to 1.11 million within three years and roughly 1.86 million within seven years. The plan calls for Israel to establish a dedicated government ministry, negotiate agreements with receiving countries, and help fund travel, housing, and employment assistance for those who leave. 

“This is a free choice; we are not forcing anyone to leave, but there is encouragement for this,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement.  

He framed the proposal as an alternative to the “illusions of Peace Now,” adding: “Instead of digging tunnels, it is time to pack suitcases. Instead of working in terrorism, it is time to find work abroad and build new lives.”

Ben-Gvir said he had “stood, shouted, and demanded” the promotion of emigration from Gaza since the beginning of the war, but argued the idea only became politically acceptable after US President Donald Trump “openly declared” support for it as a solution for Gaza. Trump first proposed relocating Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan shortly after taking office in January 2025, suggesting the move could be long term. Ben-Gvir also said establishing an Emigration Ministry would be among his Otzma Yehudit party’s top coalition demands and that the party would seek control of it.

No country has yet agreed to accept Gazans on a large scale. Katz said last week that potential receiving countries have sought US backing before moving forward, while places including Somaliland, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have previously been discussed as possible destinations. 

Katz said “80 percent” of Gazans want to leave the territory. A survey conducted by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories in May found that nearly 80 percent of respondents wanted information about mechanisms for relocating to a third country through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings. The survey did not directly ask whether respondents wanted to permanently emigrate. 

Other polling has also found substantial interest in leaving Gaza, though at lower levels. An Arab Barometer survey conducted with the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research around the October 2025 ceasefire found that 33 percent of Gazans said they and their entire household would leave immediately if given the opportunity, while another 13 percent said either they or other members of their household would leave. Fifty-four percent said no one in their household would leave. 

Katz and Ben-Gvir’s remarks also drew a joint condemnation from the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia, who accused the Israeli ministers of promoting proposals aimed at “forcibly removing Palestinians from their land.” They said such plans would violate international law and threaten Trump’s Gaza peace framework, which explicitly rejects forced displacement. 

US Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland accused Katz of confirming what he called a plan to “ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians.” Van Hollen said he and Sen. Jeff Merkley, a fellow Democrat from Oregon, had warned of such a policy after visiting the Gaza-Egypt border last year. “Now the Israeli Min of Defense confirmed that’s the goal,” he wrote on X. “We must end our complicity.”

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee rejected claims that Palestinians would be forced out of Gaza, saying last week there was “categorically” no Israeli plan to displace people against their will. At the same time, he defended allowing those who want to leave to do so, saying Palestinians “should have the right to leave” rather than be “incarcerate[d]” in a place they do not want to be. “Nobody is suggesting that there will be forced displacement,” Huckabee said. “The Israelis are not. The Americans are certainly not.” 

Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, unveiled in September 2025, stated that “no one will be forced to leave Gaza,” while those who wished to leave would be “free to do so and free to return.” The plan said residents would instead be encouraged to remain and help rebuild the territory.