Israel allowed hundreds of Palestinians to leave Gaza and months later, a few months later, with exports accelerating after U.S. President Donald Trump proposed to clear the Palestinian enclaves of residents in February.
Trump's proposal was condemned by the United Nations, government and rights groups as an issue involving ethnic cleansing, but was caught by ministers in Israel's far-right government, Defense Secretary Israel Katz announced in March that Israel would establish an agency to promote "voluntary" departure and help implement Trump's plan.
Diplomats say Israel has allowed hundreds of people to leave the surrounded striptease so far this year. France has occupied more than 170 Germany, more than 70 countries, and many other countries have attracted double-digit numbers from the enclave.
Israeli officials, including Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, have tried to portray the export as part of a “voluntary departure” plan. But diplomats involved in the process said that this is not the case, and that those who are now withdrawing from Gaza are the ones they have long tried to help leave.
The diplomats say most people who leave are dual nationals or their families, people who are evacuated for treatment or people with third-country visas.
Those who stayed, they said, include those who had previously refused to leave Gaza or had delayed their exports several times.
"After Trump announced the news, Israel decided to open the exit sign again because they thought … it was a way to start implementing the so-called Trump plan, and for us, that certainly is not."
Kogat, an Israeli military agency responsible for matters within the Palestinian territory, said it had coordinated "dozens of departures" without providing precise numbers. It said it was “according to the political echelon’s instructions.”
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Last May, it was nearly impossible to cross the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt from Israel to the beginning of the war until then that time - it was almost impossible without Israel's approval.
People involved in the evacuation said they started at a very small number late last year, with approvals sharply accelerated after Trump said in February that the United States should take over Gaza and that "all" should "resettlement" in the enclave.
Trump's efforts to convince Jordan and Egypt to accept the Gazans were strongly rejected by both countries. But concerns about mass displacement have recovered after Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government approved a plan to further strengthen its 19-month offensive against Hamas in the enclave.
The plan envisions forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to enter the smaller lands ever seen in southern Gaza. But senior Israeli security officials said on Monday that their departure from the enclave was also one of the targets of strengthening the offensive.
"The voluntary transfer (immigration) program for Gaza residents, especially those who will be concentrated in the south outside Hamas control, will be part of the operation's goal," the official said.
Diplomats said it was unclear whether Israel would allow those who left to return. But despite the terrible humanitarian situation in the enclave, many who left expressed their determination that the Israeli offensive reduced most buildings to rubble and its ban fueled extreme hunger.
Palestinian poet and writer Dunya Al-Amal Ismail, who left Gaza for France in April, said she received a grant from the French government in 2024 and worked in Paris for a year in writing and teaching projects. She applied for a grant before the war but was allowed to travel in April.
Ismail, who was internally displaced in Gaza 11 times during the war, said she would return to the enclave after the grants were over.
“No one was asked to sign documents to immigrate from Gaza or stay for years,” she said. “If I asked that, I would go back to Kerem Shalom Crossing.”