The US and Israel have approached countries in east Africa about taking in Palestinians from Gaza, as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to evict residents from the war-torn enclave and build a “Riviera of the Middle East”, said three people familiar with the matter.
Israeli officials led by strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer have sounded out the governments of Somalia and Sudan, countries wracked by civil war, while US diplomats have been in contact with the breakaway province of Somaliland, the people said.
One said Israel was “in conversations” with countries around the world, including in Africa, about taking in Gazans, although they cautioned that the talks “are not that advanced at the moment”.
A US official briefed on Washington’s initial contacts with Somaliland’s presidency said discussions had begun about a possible deal to recognise the de facto state in return for the establishment of a military base near the port of Berbera on the Red Sea coast.
The person, who described the contacts as “the beginnings of a conversation”, said Washington had raised the possibility of relocating refugees from the US and Gaza, although this was not the most important part of the talks.
They said the Trump administration’s Africa team was not yet fully in place. “Until it is, these are very tentative, initial contacts,” the person said.
The Associated Press first reported on the contacts with the three east African territories, all of which are mired in their own civil conflicts and face high levels of poverty. That and widespread global opposition make the relocation of large numbers of Palestinians extremely unlikely.
The Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment. The US state department pointed to past comments by Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who said: “We’re actually engaging in a productive conversation around what is best for Gaza, and how we can make people’s lives better.”
The idea of transferring the majority of Gaza’s 2mn people out of the shattered territory was first raised by Trump last month, as part of his plan to take over the territory after 17 months of conflict between Hamas and Israel.
The overall vision, widely condemned across the world, has changed repeatedly in the intervening weeks. The US leader has been inconsistent on whether Palestinians would be allowed to return at all to their homes in Gaza and whether he would deploy American troops.
At one point he shared an AI-generated video on social media depicting the enclave as a gilded tourist hub replete with casinos and beach clubs.
Arab states, European powers and Palestinian leaders have all vehemently rejected any move to displace Palestinians. Sudan and Somalia are members of the Arab League, which has also rejected any displacement.
A Somali official told the Financial Times: “Gaza belongs to Palestinians and it will remain for Palestinians. Somalia’s position on this is well recorded.”
Trump on Wednesday appeared to backtrack further, telling reporters at the White House that “nobody’s expelling any Palestinians”.
Arab states saw the plan as a direct threat to their national security and a violation of international law. That view was especially strongly held by Egypt and Jordan, which were first broached by the US as potential resettlement locations for Palestinians.
Yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly seized on the Trump plan, calling it “revolutionary” and “bold”, and has vowed to implement it.
Israel’s defence ministry last month set up a directorate to encourage the “voluntary emigration” of Gazans via land, air and sea, but a person familiar with the matter said no significant steps had been taken because of a failure to find a country willing to take people in.
According to local health authorities, nearly 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza by Israel’s ferocious military offensive after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel. Much of the territory has been reduced to rubble.
A fragile six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended this month, with international mediators led by the US now seeking to extend the truce and secure the release of nearly 60 remaining Israeli hostages.
The former British protectorate of Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 after the fall of Siad Barre plunged Somalia into civil war, but Somaliland has never been recognised as an independent state.
Analysts said Somaliland’s government could be tempted by the prospect of US recognition, but that any deal involving Gazan refugees could destabilise the de facto state and strengthen the hand of Islamist hardliners.
In an interview with Sky News Arabia last month, Somaliland’s President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi Irro denied his government was in discussions with the US over resettling Palestinians, and called instead for a solution with consensus backing of Arab nations.
“Any matter of this magnitude requires comprehensive dialogue,” he said.
Matt Bryden, a Horn of Africa specialist, said: “The new leadership in Hargeisa [Somaliland’s capital] is aware that public opinion would be deeply opposed to the depopulation of Gaza.
“The Somaliland government is prepared to make enormous sacrifices in pursuit of international recognition, but not necessarily at the expense of domestic stability and legitimacy.”
The person briefed on US talks with Somaliland said Washington had not approached Sudan or Somalia. “The US is going to do a total review of our Somalia policy,” they said, which could result in an end to funding and the closure of the US embassy in Mogadishu. “So the notion that they are being talked to about anything important is laughable.”
Analysts said a deal with Sudan was also doubtful, given that the country is enduring a civil war that has forced the government to withdraw from the capital Khartoum to Port Sudan.
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