Congo denies its involvement in talks with Israel on accepting Gaza refugees

The Democratic Republic of Congo denies a report in Zman Yisrael earlier this week claiming that Israel is in talks with the African country about it taking in thousands of refugees from Gaza.

There has “never been any form of negotiation, discussion or initiative” between Kinshasa and Israel about the reception of Palestinian migrants on Congolese soil, Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya says in a statement, The Times of Israel reports.

A senior Israeli official briefing reporters on condition of anonymity on Wednesday also denied the Zman report.

“It’s a baseless illusion in my opinion. No country will absorb 2 million people, or 1 million, or 100,000, or 5,000. I don’t know where that idea came from.”

“It could be between Congo and Gazans, but Israel is not conducting any talks with any country on this issue,” the official continued. “I don’t want to say it’s fake, but it can’t be through us since we have no connection to it. [The Congolese] can talk to the Gazans and ask them to move to Congo.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have recently called for Gazans to be resettled outside of the Strip, drawing widespread international condemnation.

“Let’s say Smotrich wanted to do it, what can he do? We’re not part of this. We are not in a position where we can bring people from here to Congo… we’re not in the loop,” said the official.

Zman Yisrael reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is conducting secret contacts for accepting thousands of immigrants from Gaza with Congo, in addition to other nations.

“Congo will be willing to take in migrants, and we’re in talks with others,” a senior source in the security cabinet said.

The governments of Rwanda and Chad have issued denials similar to the one published by Congo.