TRUMP WANTS NEIGHBOURS TO TAKE IN PALESTINIANS TO ‘CLEAN OUT’ GAZA
US President Donald Trump has said he wants Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza.
Trump said he had made the request to Jordan’s King Abdullah and planned to ask Egypt’s president on Sunday, too.
Describing Gaza as a “demolition site”, Trump said: “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing”. He added that the move “could be temporary” or “could be long-term”.
Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority condemned the proposal. Jordan and Egypt have also rejected the idea.
A ceasefire is being observed in Gaza after a deal between Israel and Hamas to halt the war which began when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken back to Gaza as hostages.
More than 47,200 Palestinians, the majority civilians, have been killed in Israel’s offensive, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says.
Most of Gaza’s two million residents have been displaced in the past 15 months of the war, which has flattened much of Gaza’s infrastructure.
The United Nations has previously estimated that 60% of structures across Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, and it could take decades to rebuild.
Trump made his comments while speaking to reporters on board the Air Force One.
“Almost everything is demolished and people are dying there.
“So I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where maybe they can live in peace for a change.”
Trump did not give further details of the proposal, and the subject was not referenced in the White House’s official read-out of the call.
It is not clear whether the US president has formally made the request to Egypt, but its foreign ministry has rejected any such effort “whether through settlement or annexation of land, or by evicting Palestinians from their land through displacement or encouraging the relocation or uprooting of Palestinians from their land, whether temporarily or long-term”.
Jordan’s foreign minister said the kingdom said it was “firm and unwavering” in its rejection of displacing Palestinians.
In Gaza itself, Bassem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, told the BBC: “Our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip endured death and destruction for 15 months… without leaving their land. Therefore, they will not accept any offers or solutions, even if they appear to be good intentions under the title of reconstruction, as announced by US President Trump’s proposals.
“Our people, just as they have thwarted all plans for displacement and an alternative homeland over the decades, will also thwart such projects,” he added.
In the West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas “expressed strong rejection and condemnation of any projects aimed at displacing our people from the Gaza Strip”.
Asked about Trump’s comments, Abu Yahya Rashid, a man displaced in the southern city of Khan Younis said:
“We are the ones who decide our fate and what we want. This land is ours and the property of our ancestors throughout history. We will not leave it except as corpses.”
Decades of US foreign policy has committed to the creation of a Palestinian state, with Gaza as a key part. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects this. [BBC News]
