According to an NBC News report published last Friday, citing information from five individuals familiar with the initiative, the Trump administration is developing a plan to permanently relocate as many as 1 million civilians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.
The plan is being taken seriously enough that the Trump administration has discussed it with the Libyan leadership, according to two individuals with direct knowledge of the proposal and a former U.S. official. In return for accepting the Gazans, the U.S. would consider unfreezing billions of dollars in Libyan assets that have been locked for over a decade, the three sources said.
Following the publication of the report, a spokesperson for the State Department and the National Security Council told NBC News that “these reports are untrue.”
“The situation on the ground is untenable for such a plan. Such a plan was not discussed and makes no sense,” the spokesperson added.
Back in November 2023, two Israeli politicians, Likud’s Danny Danon (coalition) and Yesh Atid’s Ram Ben-Barak (opposition), suggested in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that “The West Should Welcome Gaza Refugees.”
They wrote:
Europe has a long history of assisting refugees fleeing conflicts. The wars in the former Yugoslavia displaced millions, most of them from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Germany, Austria, and Sweden accepted large numbers. When the Kosovo war erupted, hundreds of thousands of Kosovar Albanians fled to neighboring Albania and the country now called North Macedonia. Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. also accepted refugees. European countries, including Germany, Sweden, and France, have provided refuge to Syrians since the civil war started in 2011. Between 2015 and 2016, Germany alone admitted more than 1.2 million refugees and asylum-seekers, about a quarter of whom were Syrian.
Looking at these examples, countries around the world should offer a haven for Gaza residents who seek relocation. Countries can accomplish this by creating well-structured and internationally coordinated relocation programs. Members of the international community can collaborate to provide one-time financial support packages to Gazans interested in moving to help with relocation costs and to ease refugees’ acclimation to their new communities.
In April, the Gaza Government Media Office warned against “misleading rumors” regarding plans for mass emigration from Gaza, accusing Israel of leading a campaign aimed at “undermining national consciousness and weakening Palestinian steadfastness.”
The office stated it had been tracking social media posts and misinformation spread by “controversial figures” working with foreign entities. According to the statement, these posts promoted the idea of Gazan families emigrating through Israel’s Ramon Airport to various countries.
“We categorically affirm that this information is entirely false,” Hamas said, describing it as part of a “malicious and systematic campaign to erode our people’s resilience, target their national awareness, and push them toward forced migration under the pressure of suffering and war.”
SO YOU WANT TO MOVE TO LIBYA
Libya is a geographically large country with a relatively small and unevenly distributed population. Around 90% of its approximately 6.7 million residents live along the narrow coastal strip, primarily in the northern regions of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, which have a population density of about 130 inhabitants per square mile. In contrast, the rest of the country is sparsely populated, with fewer than one person per square kilometer.
The population is predominantly urban, with 88% of Libyans residing in cities—mainly Tripoli, Benghazi, and Misrata. The population has grown significantly over the decades, rising from 1.54 million in 1964 to 3.6 million in 1984, and more than doubling since then.
Ethnically, the population is overwhelmingly Arab, who make up about 92%, while Berbers constitute roughly 5%.
Libya’s political landscape has remained unstable in recent years, with repeated delays to its first presidential election, originally scheduled for December 2021 and later postponed beyond June 2022.
In February 2022, the Libyan parliament appointed Fathi Bashagha as prime minister to head a transitional government. However, the incumbent prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, refused to relinquish power, leading to a standoff. Tensions escalated in April 2022 when tribal leaders from the southern town of Ubari shut down the El Sharara oil field—Libya’s largest—in protest against the Dbeibeh government. The closure threatened domestic fuel shortages and blocked the National Oil Corporation from capitalizing on surging global oil prices caused by the war in Ukraine. Public frustration culminated on July 2, 2022, when protesters burned down the House of Representatives.
On September 10, 2023, Libya suffered its deadliest natural disaster in modern history when Storm Daniel caused dam failures and catastrophic flooding in the port city of Derna. The disaster claimed more than 5,900 lives, with some estimates suggesting the death toll may have reached 24,000.
In November 2024, the Government of National Unity introduced a controversial “morality police” tasked with cracking down on “weird haircuts,” enforcing “modest” dress codes, and requiring women to have male guardians, further reflecting the nation’s ongoing political and social volatility.
Bon Voyage?
