Israel claims it’s promoting Palestinian emigration from Gaza. So why are so few leaving?

At a February press conference alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump outlined a proposal to relocate Gaza’s roughly 2 million residents to third-party countries.

In response, Israel’s Defense Ministry announced the creation of a new governmental body — a “Voluntary Emigration Directorate” — tasked with facilitating the exit of hundreds of thousands of Gazans. A retired IDF colonel, Yaakov Blitshtein, was appointed to head the directorate in late March.

“Emigration from Gaza will begin within weeks,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a February 15 interview with Channel 12.

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel stated on April 7 at a conference organized by Yedioth Ahronoth: “More than 16 flights have departed from Ramon Airport carrying Gazans who requested to leave the Strip — and this is only going to increase.”

In recent months, Israeli media have widely reported on flights evacuating Gazans from the Strip, presenting this as part of Trump’s plan. However, Israel has not officially disclosed how many Gazans have left at any time during the war.

When The Times of Israel contacted the Population and Immigration Authority — a body facilitating Gazan departures — officials referred the inquiry to the Defense Ministry, which declined to respond.

The Times of Israel likewise found no meaningful change in Israel’s exit policy for Gaza residents in recent months.

Despite reports of increased movement through the Kerem Shalom crossing, according to a source familiar with the issue who talked to The Times of Israel, and public announcements by foreign countries and humanitarian organizations, only about 600 people have left the Gaza Strip in the past two months, since the collapse of the most recent ceasefire.

This is a relatively small number compared to the exodus earlier in the conflict.

For comparison, according to Egyptian media reports, around 103,000 people exited Gaza through the Rafah crossing between November 2023 and May 2024. Additionally, during the second ceasefire between February 1 and March 17 of this year, 4,259 Gazans — including patients, wounded individuals, and their family members — were evacuated from the Strip for medical treatment abroad.

Leaving Gaza requires international intervention

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the body under the Defense Ministry responsible for coordinating the movement of Gaza residents, has maintained that the only criteria for exiting Gaza — both before and throughout the war — are severe illness or injury, or foreign citizenship. In all cases, residents cannot apply directly to COGAT; an international organization must submit the request on their behalf.

It is notable that many countries accepting patients from Gaza during the war, including the UAE and various European states, have clarified that these are temporary stays for medical treatment and that the individuals are expected to return afterward.

Related: Almost half of Gaza Palestinians willing to ask Israel to help them leave — poll

Since the war began, the World Health Organization has been responsible for coordinating the evacuation of patients and their companions from the Gaza Strip. From November 2023 to May 2024, evacuations occurred via the Rafah crossing into Egypt. Following the Israeli ground operation in Rafah on May 6, 2024, the crossing was closed.

In June 2024, Israel began allowing patients to exit Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing into Israel and then into Jordan by vehicle via the Allenby Bridge. From Jordan, they were flown abroad.

Israel does not allow Palestinians to fly through Ben-Gurion Airport, the country’s central international hub, except in rare cases such as high-ranking Palestinian Authority officials who receive special permission. Since last February, some Gazan patients have been allowed to fly directly from Israel via Ramon Airport in the Negev in the south of Israel. (Until then, Ramon Airport in southern Israel was not used for international flights.)

The WHO publishes an online chart that is updated every few weeks to show the number of individuals evacuated from Gaza. According to the data, from the collapse of the ceasefire on March 18 until May 6, a total of 310 people — patients and companions — were evacuated.

Foreign nationals still waiting to exit

To exit Gaza as a foreign citizen — including dual citizens —  during the war, the individual’s country must submit a formal request to COGAT and provide proof of citizenship and presence in Gaza. Gazan residents cannot request exit permits from Israel directly.

When the Rafah crossing was open from November 2023 to May 2024, foreign nationals used it to reach Egypt. Most were asked to pay between $2,000 and $5,000 per person to Egyptian companies managing the crossing.

Notably, even Gazans without foreign citizenship were able to leave by paying the same amount, including senior Hamas figures such as the Hamas-run health ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qudra, who reportedly exited the Strip this way during the war.

Following Israel’s operation in Rafah and the subsequent closure of the crossing in May 2024, foreign nationals could no longer leave Gaza through that route.

In August, COGAT responsed to a query from Gisha, an Israeli organization that helps protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians — especially Gaza residents — by stating that Israel would be willing to allow the departure of Gazans with foreign citizenship through Israeli territory, provided that their countries submitted an official request and furnished documentation confirming their planned travel via Egypt or Jordan, including letters of non-objection from those countries.

According to a source familiar with the issue who spoke with The Times of Israel, 10 Gazans with foreign citizenship left the strip between August 2024 and February 2025 by crossing through Israel into Jordan.

During the most recent ceasefire, Israel did not permit foreign nationals to exit through the Rafah crossing, allowing only wounded and sick individuals to leave.

According to Gisha, representatives of foreign governments were informed that only Gazans physically present in the Strip with foreign citizenship would be eligible for exit, not those with relatives abroad holding foreign passports. COGAT confirmed to The Times of Israel that eligibility was strictly limited to holders of foreign citizenship, not those with visas or other legal residency forms.

Foreign citizen trapped in Gaza for 15 months

One of the individuals who managed to leave Gaza in February is Ahmad (a pseudonym), a 33-year-old Gaza resident and European citizen. His wife and two daughters live in Europe, where he has resided for the past decade. He requested that his full name and identifying details not be published.

In September 2023, Ahmad traveled to Gaza for a family visit. Once the war broke out, he attempted to leave and return home. His first attempt via Rafah was denied by Israel on the grounds of “security concerns.” Later, with legal assistance from Gisha, he petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice to leave. Israel responded after long months that it had no objection to his departure, and a week after the petition was withdrawn, his exit via Kerem Shalom crossing was coordinated.

Ahmad left Gaza after 15 months of trying, despite holding foreign citizenship and having immediate family abroad.

In a WhatsApp conversation with The Times of Israel, Ahmad described the experience as deeply frustrating: “Throughout the process, the official bodies responsible for handling this had failed. The citizen is the last priority.”

Gazans leave following requests by foreign governments

Despite official Israeli statements asserting that only foreign nationals or individuals in need of urgent medical care are allowed to exit Gaza, approximately 290 Gaza residents have left the Strip since the March collapse of the ceasefire. According to foreign media reports, official statements, and a source familiar with the issue who spoke with The Times of Israel, they left through foreign government intervention and not for medical reasons, and some of them did not have foreign citizenship.

Although COGAT told The Times of Israel that the only valid exit criteria are illness, injury, or foreign citizenship, several Gazans have traveled to Europe over the past two months without meeting these conditions. For example, 13 students left for Ireland on student visas, and several individuals traveled to France, including Gazans who had worked for French institutions in Gaza, their relatives, academics granted scholarships, and students with study visas.

When The Times of Israel asked which documents were required for these exits to be approved, the embassies of Ireland and France in Israel declined to respond. However, the French embassy confirmed that it had worked for several months to secure the departure of those Gaza residents.

Among them were the 13 students accepted to academic institutions in Ireland, along with family members of Irish citizens. The Irish embassy in Israel declined to specify the total number of evacuees. One Irish newspaper reported that among them was a 74-year-old woman, the mother of an Irish citizen, who had waited 18 months to leave Gaza.

In addition, 21 people were flown to Sweden, 175 to France, 24 Belgian citizens and their relatives to Belgium, and 50 German nationals and their families to Germany. A source familiar with the matter, who spoke to The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity, said that additional Gazans had left for Canada — likely relatives of Canadian citizens — as well as for the UK. The Canadian and British embassies in Israel did not respond to inquiries regarding the exact number of people evacuated.

Except for one instance — a March 31 flight that took 33 German nationals and their relatives directly to Germany — all others were transferred from the Kerem Shalom crossing through Israel to Jordan by vehicle and then flown onward to Europe.

Many of these individuals had reportedly been trying to leave Gaza for months, some since the start of the war. Following the March 31 evacuation to Germany, German officials acknowledged: “We would have preferred to do this sooner — it took us time.”

In total, at least 284 people are confirmed to have left Gaza for foreign destinations. The exact number is unknown, but given the significant restrictions imposed by foreign governments and Israel, it is unlikely to be much higher.

The International Committee of the Red Cross helped coordinate the exit of these residents and foreign nationals through the Kerem Shalom crossing. It declined to tell The Times of Israel how many people it assisted over the past two months.

Israeli statements contradict reality

The Israeli organization Gisha reported that it had recently received inquiries from 150 Gaza residents who had been accepted to study abroad but were still unable to leave the Strip. COGAT has stated that acceptance to academic programs overseas does not meet the criteria for exit.

Shai Greenberg, spokesperson for Gisha, told The Times of Israel: “Since the beginning of the war, thousands of people have been trapped in the Gaza Strip — including foreign nationals, patients in need of life-saving medical treatment unavailable in Gaza, students accepted into graduate programs abroad, and individuals eligible for family reunification in various countries.

“This is part of a systematic violation of fundamental rights — including freedom of movement and the right to family life for both those trapped and their relatives in Gaza and abroad — as well as the rights to health, bodily integrity, education, and livelihood,” Greenberg stated.

Ahmad, who left Gaza in February after 15 months of effort, told The Times of Israel he knows many foreign nationals who remain stuck in the Strip.

“I know a lot of people with foreign citizenship or permanent residency abroad who are still trapped in Gaza — some of them are close friends. Only one of them managed to leave, about 20 days ago,” he said.

In early April, several dozen Gazans with Egyptian citizenship held a protest inside Gaza, demanding that the Rafah crossing be reopened so they could travel to Egypt.

The World Health Organization estimated in early March that between 11,000 and 13,000 people in Gaza still required urgent evacuation for medical treatment — a figure released before the current round of hostilities resumed nearly two months ago.

On March 3, during a Knesset session, Smotrich, who also holds a ministerial role in the Defense Ministry, announced the establishment of an Emigration Directorate.

“This initiative is being prepared under the leadership of the prime minister and the defense minister. The budget will not be an obstacle — if we remove 5,000 people a day, it will take a year,” he said.

The data, however, appears to be in stark contrast to official Israeli rhetoric promising and encouraging the emigration of Gaza residents. Even under Israel’s strict criteria — limited to foreign nationals and those requiring urgent care — only a small number of Gazans have successfully exited the Strip.