Jerusalem, 13 August, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel is in South Sudan on Wednesday for the first official visit by an Israeli government representative to the East African nation. The visit follows a report that Jerusalem and Juba are discussing resettling Palestinians from Gaza in South Sudan.
According to Haskel’s office, she will meet President Salva Kiir Mayardit — who has led South Sudan since its independence in 2011 — along with the foreign minister, parliamentary speaker, and other senior officials. Discussions will cover “deepening cooperation in the fields of health, education, technology, agriculture, and energy; advancing joint initiatives in civil and security development; strengthening regional cooperation; and exploring options for Israeli humanitarian aid in light of the challenges the country faces due to the war in neighboring Sudan.”
The deputy minister will also tour a trauma center established by Israel in Juba. “I am proud of the Israeli initiatives helping this young nation in health, agriculture, energy, and food,” she said, thanking South Sudan’s government for its support of Israel.
The announcement comes on the heels of an Associated Press report on Tuesday that Israel is in talks with South Sudanese officials about potentially resettling Palestinians from Gaza. Israeli and South Sudanese officials did not comment on the AP report.
“While the international community is focused solely on Gaza, South Sudan is facing a real humanitarian crisis and the threat of genuine famine that is claiming the lives of many refugees from the war in Sudan,” Haskel said in the statement. She urged “all hunger experts in the international community and in the media to come here and see with their own eyes what happens when there is a real famine.”
In February, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the military to prepare a plan allowing Gazans to leave the enclave voluntarily, after U.S. President Donald Trump first floated the idea.
Asher Fredman, the executive director of the Misgav Institute in Jerusalem, told The Press Service of Israel in February that voluntarily relocating Palestinians to third countries while the U.S. rebuilds the Strip could be done, but it would require the right circumstances.
“Gazans won’t be able to leave in large numbers if Hamas gunmen are stopping people from leaving,” said Fredman. “A military campaign would first have to weaken Hamas enough to keep it from barring Palestinians from emigrating.”
He cited a Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research survey published on June 26, 2024, which found that 44% of Gazans aged 18–29 would emigrate if given the chance.
A 2022 report, written by the Hamas-affiliated Council on International Relations and seen by TPS-IL, said 12% of Gaza’s population has fled since 2007, when the terror group violently seized control of Gaza.
Approximately 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 50 remaining hostages, around 30 are believed to be dead.
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