Israel denies it is talking to other countries about absorbing Gazan immigrants
A senior Israeli official on Wednesday evening denied a report from The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael earlier in the day that Israel is “in talks with the Congo” to discuss the possibility of relocating thousands of Gazans to the African country and other nations.
“There are those in Israel who think that there is a willingness on the part of Gazans to emigrate voluntarily,” said the official in a briefing to Israeli journalists, on condition of anonymity.
“It’s a baseless illusion in my opinion. No country will absorb 2 million people, or 1 million, or 100,000, or 5,000. I don’t know where that idea came from.”
“It could be between Congo and Gazans, but Israel is not conducting any talks with any country on this issue,” the official continued. “I don’t want to say it’s fake, but it can’t be through us since we have no connection to it. [The Congolese] can talk to the Gazans and ask them to move to Congo.”
This is an update to this story from earlier today.