By ISABEL KERSHNER NYTimes News Service
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JERUSALEM — When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel visited the White House two months ago, President Donald Trump sold him a brazen dream: The United States would take control of the Gaza Strip, relocate about 2 million Palestinians and turn the devastated seaside enclave into a glittering “riviera.”

This week, as the two leaders faced reporters again after meeting in the Oval Office, Trump appeared to have moved on, holding forth instead on U.S. border policy, his new tariffs, the plight of the hostages held in Gaza and the latest showstopper for Middle East policy: the opening of talks with Iran to curb its nuclear weapons program.

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But Netanyahu did not let the Gaza idea — however unfeasible or potentially illegal — fade like a mirage. He raised it himself, saying that he and Trump had discussed the vision, including which countries might agree to accept Palestinians.

Netanyahu and his government say they are serious about the idea but emphasize that they are speaking about facilitating the “voluntary” migration of Palestinians, in an apparent attempt to avoid any suggestion of ethnic cleansing. Critics say that it would hardly be voluntary if Palestinians left, regardless, given that so many of their homes have been smashed to rubble.

Days after Trump’s original announcement, the Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, said he was establishing a special administration within the ministry focused on voluntary migration from Gaza. In late March, he appointed a senior ministry official, Yaakov Blitshtein, to head it.

Netanyahu told the reporters Monday at the Oval Office that Gaza was the only war zone where civilians were “locked in,” unable to leave.

“We didn’t lock them in,” he said, without acknowledging years of severe Israeli restrictions on movement in and out of the enclave for what the country says are security reasons; a long-standing Israeli naval blockade of the territory; and Israel’s refusal to allow Palestinians to live within its borders. Egypt also strictly controls its border with the enclave.