The search continues: US & Israel consider Syria, Sudan & Somalia as potential new home for Gazans

Despite recent events overshadowing U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for the Gaza Strip, reports suggest that his administration and Israel are still trying to find takers for the enclave’s population of around 2 million.

According to recent reports, Israel and the U.S. are considering Syria, Sudan, Somalia, and Somaliland as possible destinations. However, first reactions indicate the efforts will not succeed.

In his shocking statement last month, Trump announced the U.S. would ‘take over’ Gaza, pacify, rebuild, and run it while moving the population “somewhere beautiful.”

Trump also predicted that once evacuated, Gazans would not want to return after the reconstruction.

However, most Arab states have vocally opposed Trump’s plans and are refusing to take in the Gazan population, despite his assertions to the contrary.

Relations between Israel and the four countries now considered as destinations for evacuated Gazans are highly complex.

CBS News cited a source saying that the Trump administration tried to contact the new Syrian government, led by a president who was a U.S.-designated terrorist until recently, via a third party.

President Ahmad al-Shara, formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, had condemned Trump’s evacuation plan, calling it “a serious crime that will ultimately fail.”

However, a senior Syrian official told CBS that he was unaware of contacts regarding the issue.

Israeli leaders have been attacking the new Syrian government since it came into existence, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) still holds a buffer zone on its territory. However, the country is desperate for sanctions relief and could potentially be moved to concessions in return for international aid and recognition.

The report added that the U.S. and Israel also approached the governments of Sudan and Somalia to receive Gazans.

Despite being historically hostile to Israel, Sudan was a party to the Abraham Accords. However, the state soon after descended into a violent civil war and never developed close diplomatic ties with Israel, unlike the UAE and Morocco, for example.

Sudanese military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan said last week in Cairo that Sudan “categorically rejects” the idea of transferring “the brotherly Palestinians from their land under whatever justification or name.”

Sudanese sources confirmed that the U.S. talked about offers of military assistance and reconstruction but told the Associated Press that this was immediately rejected.

Somalia, located on the horn of Africa, is another extremely poor country that has vocally supported the Palestinians, making its agreement to take in Gazans very unlikely.

Dahir Hassan, Somalia's ambassador to the U.S., told CBS that “neither the U.S. administration nor Israeli authorities have approached the Somali government regarding any proposed relocation of Palestinians to Somalia.”

A year before the war began, Israeli media outlets reported that Somalia had considered establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, but to no avail.

The Associated Press said Israel and the U.S. had also reached out to Somaliland regarding the same issue.

Somaliland, a former British colony, is located in the Gulf of Aden and shares borders with Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti. While it declared its independence in 1991, very few countries have so far recognized Somaliland’s status as an independent state.

The option of Somaliland could be the most intriguing. Despite being extremely poor, it is strategically located near the Horn of Africa and has been politically stable since breaking away from Somalia in 1991.

The non-recognized country has close ties with the UAE, which in turn has close ties with Israel. Last year, reports suggested Israel was probing the possibility of establishing an IDF military base in Somaliland to counter the ongoing missile threat posed by Houthi terrorists in Yemen.

The AP cited an American official who said there was “a quiet conversation with Somaliland about a range of areas where they can be helpful to the U.S. in exchange for recognition.”