A report by US media outlet NBC News has revealed that the US President Trump administration seriously considered a controversial plan to permanently relocate up to one million Palestinians from Gaza to Libya.
Citing five individuals familiar with the internal deliberations, the report says the plan was discussed at high levels within the administration and even presented to Libyan interlocutors.
According to sources with direct knowledge of the discussions, the Trump administration viewed Libya, despite its ongoing conflict and institutional division, as a potential host country for Palestinians displaced from Gaza.
In return, the United States would consider unfreezing billions of dollars in Libyan assets that were frozen more than a decade ago following the 2011 revolution and the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.
Although the plan never advanced beyond the proposal stage and no formal agreement was reached, the discussions indicate how Libya was being viewed not just as a conflict zone but as a geopolitical bargaining chip. Israeli officials were reportedly briefed on the idea, but a spokesperson for the US State Department and National Security Council denied the report, calling it “baseless and implausible.”
The report raises serious concerns, especially within the context of Libya’s current challenges. With a population of just over 7 million and a divided political landscape, split between two governments in the East and West regions of the country.
Analysts say that any attempt to implement such a plan would dramatically alter Libya’s already strained demographic and economic fabric, potentially destabilizing the fragile truce that currently exists between eastern and western factions.
Moreover, the idea of using Libya as a relocation hub for Palestinians—or any other foreign population, without the approval of a unified Libyan authority, underscores the extent to which the country remains vulnerable to foreign agendas.
While humanitarian corridors and refugee protections are a global concern, the idea of imposing large-scale population transfers on a conflict-affected country like Libya invites deep criticism, both ethically and practically. Many fear it would only add pressure to Libya’s overstretched institutions and already volatile security environment.
The details of when or how any plan to relocate Palestinians to Libya could be implemented are murky, and an effort to resettle up to 1 million people there would likely face significant obstacles.
Such an effort would likely be extremely expensive, and it’s not clear how the Trump administration would seek to pay for it. In the past, the administration has said Arab nations would help with rebuilding Gaza after the war there ends, but they have been critical of Trump’s idea of permanently relocating Palestinians.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has also looked at Libya as a place where it could send some immigrants it wants to deport from the US However, plans to send one group of immigrants to Libya were stalled by a federal judge this month.
