Live Updates September 02, 2026Share to FacebookShare to XArticle printing is available to subscribers onlyPrint in a simple, ad-free formatSubscribeComments: Zen reading is available to subscribers onlyAd-free and in a comfortable reading formatSubscribeSeptember 02, 2026Sen. Chris van Hollen: Israel's defense minister confirmed goal is to 'ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians'Senator Chris Van Hollen on Wednesday condemned Israeli defense minister Israel Katz for reiterating his call for Palestinians to emigrate from Gaza as a "solution" earlier that day.Van Hollen referred in a post on X to a report titled "The Netanyahu Government is Implementing a Plan to Ethnically Cleanse Gaza of Palestinians," which he released last year with Senator Jeff Merkley after visiting Gaza's border with Egypt."Now the Israeli Minister of Defense confirmed that's the goal. We must end our complicity," Van Hollen wrote.In the report the senators published last year, they categorize Israel's policy in Gaza as ethnic cleansing.The report criticized past statements by Israeli officials about Palestinians leaving Gaza voluntarily. "Any talk of 'voluntary departures' is a cruel hoax," the report read. "Departure is not 'voluntary' when the conditions needed to support life are extinguished."After our trip to the Gaza-Egypt border last year, @SenJeffMerkley & I released a report entitled, "The Netanyahu Government is Implementing a Plan to Ethnically Cleanse Gaza of Palestinians."