Plan to deport Palestinians to Libya “untrue” says US

A reported plan to deport Palestinians to Libya has been denied by the US embassy in Tripoli who took to X to rebuke the claims made by media channels.

According to The New Arab citing Reuters on May 18th, the US embassy wrote on social media that: “The report of alleged plans to relocate Gazans to Libya is untrue.”

Reports suggesting that the US was planning to “relocate” Palestinians to Libya have circulated around the media for some time however the denial came in the wake of NBC News reporting that the  Trump administration was working on a plan to permanently relocate as many as one million people.

Trump has offered up several countries in the Middle East and North Africa as potential destinations for Palestinians being deported from Gaza, including suggesting that Egypt and Jordan should house refugees in the early weeks of his presidency.

Libya has been seen as a viable place to deport people by the Trump administration who, on May 7th, were reportedly planning to charter a series of military flights from the US to Libya in order to deport migrants.

Despite the plan, in March the US had considered a sweeping travel ban that would impose visa restrictions on citizens from 41 countries, including Libya.

Whilst the ban was not imposed it did reveal that the US considered Libya to be an “unsafe country” yet have considered it to be a potentially acceptable destination for deportees.

Since March, clashes have intensified in Libya and recent weeks have seen Tripoli – the capital – suffer a series of clashes that have been described as “urban warfare”. 

The clashes between militia groups and state services reveal the fact that any hopes that a new government and president can be elected and peace can be attained are rapidly fading in Libya and day to day life is becoming more difficult and more dangerous for residents of the capital.

The New Arab/ Reuters/ Maghrebi