Chicago – May 18, 2025
The U.S. Embassy in Libya denied reports on Sunday that the U.S. government was working on a plan to move Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya. This came after a story from NBC News on Thursday, which said the Trump administration was planning to permanently relocate up to one million Palestinians to Libya.
The U.S. Embassy posted on the social media platform X, stating, “The report of alleged plans to relocate Gazans to Libya is untrue.”
The Government of National Unity in Libya, based in Tripoli, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
In the past, former President Donald Trump had suggested that the U.S. should take control of the Gaza Strip, and that Palestinians living there should be relocated to other places. Palestinians strongly opposed this idea, comparing it to the 1948 “Nakba” when many Palestinians were forced from their homes during the war that led to the creation of Israel.
When Trump first proposed this idea during his presidency, he suggested that U.S. allies Egypt and Jordan should take in the Palestinians from Gaza. Both countries rejected the plan, and it was widely condemned by Palestinians, Arab nations, and the United Nations, who called it a form of ethnic cleansing.
While visiting Qatar this week, Trump repeated his desire to take control of Gaza, calling it a “freedom zone” and saying there was nothing left to save. He has also said he wanted to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
