Pakistan was among the Muslim nations on Sunday that condemned Israeli ministers’ statements regarding the displacement of the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip, including proposals for plans and mechanisms aimed at forcibly removing them from their land.

Earlier this week, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Defence Minister Israel Katz had floated proposals for the mass removal of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, resurfacing an idea voiced repeatedly by right-wing politicians over the past three years as they seek to rally supporters ahead of an election.

Far-right security minister Ben-Gvir had laid out a seven-year plan for removing Gaza’s population through “voluntary emigration” and Katz said there was “no real solution for Gaza in the end without this migration”.

“We are fully prepared to move them out if it becomes possible by sea, by air, by every way possible,” he said during an online conference hosted by Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

The foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates strongly condemned the remarks in a joint statement.

“Such inflammatory statements and proposals flagrantly violate principles of international law, including international humanitarian law, and pose a direct threat to the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,” they said.

The ministers reaffirmed their unequivocal rejection and condemnation of any attempts or plans aimed at displacing the Palestinian people, whether within or outside the occupied Palestinian territory, under any pretext or justification.

They warned against the “grave consequences of turning calls for forced displacement into declared policy or concrete measures aimed at uprooting Palestinians from their land”.

“Such actions constitute a challenge to international efforts aimed at achieving peace, foremost among them President Donald Trump’s comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict, including its unequivocal rejection of forced displacement, and gravely risk undermining prospects for stability in the region,” their statement read.

The foreign ministers stressed that the Gaza Strip was an integral part of the Palestinian territory and underscored the imperative of preserving the unity of the Palestinian territory in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

They reaffirmed that the “only path towards achieving a just and lasting peace lies in the implementation of the two-State solution with the establishment of an independent Palestinian State along the lines of 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy”.

They called upon the international community, particularly the United Nations Security Council, to “shoulder its responsibilities and firmly confront any attempts to impose a new demographic or geographic reality in the occupied Palestinian territory, and to ensure respect for the rules of international law”.

The foreign ministers reaffirmed their “continued full support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land and their rejection of all attempts aimed at erasing the Palestinian cause or undermining the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people”.