Washington denies claims of a plan to transfer one million Palestinians from Gaza to Libya.

"The report about alleged plans to transfer Gaza residents to Libya is false," the US embassy said in a post on the XN platform. Reuters was unable to obtain comment from the internationally recognized Government of National Unity, based in Tripoli.

NBC News reported last Thursday that the Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently transfer up to one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.

The network based its report on five informed sources, including two people with direct knowledge of the matter and a former US official. In exchange, Washington may release billions of dollars in Libyan assets frozen in the United States for more than a decade, according to three informed sources.

Trump has previously stated that he wants the United States to control the Gaza Strip and for its Palestinian residents to be resettled elsewhere. Last April, Trump said that Palestinians could be transferred "to different countries, and there are many countries that will do that."

During his visit to Qatar this week, he reiterated his desire to control the Strip, saying he wanted it to become a "free zone" and that there was nothing left to save. Trump has previously stated that he wants to turn Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East."

In early March, the first phase of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel concluded. The agreement, which went into effect on January 19, 2025, was brokered by Egypt and Qatar and supported by the United States, and the Palestinian movement adhered to it.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by international justice, evaded the start of the second phase and resumed the genocide in Gaza on March 18, responding to the most extreme faction within his right-wing government to advance his own political interests, according to Hebrew media.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been committing genocidal crimes in Gaza, leaving approximately 174,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing.