Israel Responds to 'Artificial Island' for Palestinians Report

Israel has denied that its foreign minister, Israel Katz, had proposed temporarily housing Palestinians from Gaza on an island.

The Guardian reported on Monday that Katz had made a video presentation to EU foreign ministers that said Palestinians from Gaza "could be housed on an artificial island in the Mediterranean…as an alternative to the two-state solution."

The report said that the video referred to a plan made "some years ago" when he was transport minister. However, Israel's foreign ministry has told Newsweek that the report "is not accurate at all."

EU foreign ministers were in Brussels on Monday to discuss the Israel-Hamas war at a meeting also attended by counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, and the Arab League secretary general.

Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, said according to The Guardian: "We had had the pleasure of watching two very interesting videos. One about an artificial island project to serve as a port…and another one about a project to build a railroad line linking the Middle East with India."

"I think the minister could have made better use of his time to worry about the security of his country," Borrell added, "and the high death toll in Gaza."

However, the claims that Katz proposed an island for Gazans was rejected by Israel.

"Foreign Minister Katz indeed proposed a plan to create an artificial island near the Gaza Strip. However, there was never any intention to house or to move Palestinians to this location," the Israeli foreign ministry told Newsweek in a statement on Thursday.

"Mr. Katz's plan is to create an artificial island which will function as a commercial hub," the spokesperson said. "The intention is to create a port, a cargo terminal and even an airport, [a] project which would allow the Gaza strip to receive goods without being dependent on Israel."

The Times of Israel had reported foreign ministry comments that Katz did present to EU ministers a plan to build a port for Gaza on an artificial island to check incoming goods, which the paper said was "one he has pushed for years."

The foreign ministry shared the video available on YouTube with Newsweek. Made in 2017when Katz was information and transport minister, graphics, animation and English-narration, outline plans for an island hosting a port, a cargo terminal, a desalination plant and an airport. The video's narrator said the initiative was "aimed at providing an answer to a reality that is bad for the Palestinians and is not good for Israel."

"Today Israel continues to be perceived as being responsible for the Gaza Strip and is to an extent the only lifeline to it even though it withdrew from the strip over a decade ago," the video's narrator said.

The narrator also said the island, about three miles off the coast of Gaza, "would provide the Palestinians with a humanitarian, economic and transportation gateway to the world without endangering Israel's security."

Israel would ensure security of the internationally-funded island, which "will strengthen the cooperation and relations between Israel and the countries in the region," the narrator added.

The Guardian reported that EU foreign ministers were "disappointed" that Katz had come to Brussels to propose the island, according to a source in Brussels, who said, "ministers ignored it and went ahead with what they were there to talk about."

The news comes as Israel's military said on Tuesday that 21 of its soldiers had been killed in the Gaza Strip in the deadliest attack on its forces since the raid by Hamas on October 7 that preceded the current war, the Associated Press reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with the offensive until "absolute victory" over the militants, and promised to return over 100 hostages being held captive by Palestinian militants.

Update 1/25/24, 6:25 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from the Israeli foreign ministry.