US President Donald Trump has suggested that large numbers of Palestinians should leave Gaza “just to clean up” the entire Strip, after he ordered the US military to reship shipments of 2,000-pound bombs to Gaza. Israel.
Trump said he wanted to Gaza Residents to move to neighboring countries, and that their displacement may be “temporary or long-term,” after a phone call with Jordanian King Abdullah on Saturday.
“I would rather partner with some Arab countries and build housing in a different location where they can live in peace for a change,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“You’re talking probably about a million and a half people, and we write this whole thing off and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’”
The population of Gaza is 2.3 million people. Trump said he asked King Abdullah whether his country would receive more Palestinians. Jordan already hosts 2.4 million Palestinian refugees, from families expelled in 1948 after the establishment of Israel.
“I told him: I would like you to take more because I look at the entire Gaza Strip right now and I see there is chaos, it is real chaos. I want him to take people,” Trump said when asked about the call.
He also suggested that Egypt could be a destination for Gazans, and said he would raise the issue with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Sunday.
Since the start of the war in 2023, Egypt has repeatedly warned of the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, and has strengthened its borders. Sisi said that any move to push people into Sinai would jeopardize relations with Israel, including the peace treaty signed between the two countries in 1979.
Mustafa Barghouti, a senior Palestinian politician, said he “completely rejects” Trump’s statements, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported. Barghouti warned of attempts at “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza, saying: “The Palestinian people are committed to remaining in their homeland.”
Inside Israel there were calls Since the beginning of the war For the permanent and forced relocation of its population. Far-right politicians who support Jewish settlements in Gaza welcomed Trump’s comments.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described the transfer of Palestinians as a “great idea” and said that he would work with the prime minister and the government to develop an “implementation plan” as soon as possible.
Before Trump took office, an official from his transition team said that the administration was discussing transferring two million Palestinians During reconstruction If the current tentative ceasefire holds, Indonesia will be one possible destination. Jakarta said it was not aware of any such plan.
Trump did not present any vision for post-war governance in Gaza. While signing executive orders after his inauguration, he discussed the area as a potential real estate area, praising its coastal location and weather.
“I looked at the picture of Gaza, it’s like a huge demolition site,” he said on Tuesday, adding: “It has to be rebuilt in a different way.”
Qatari officials, who brokered a halt to the fighting in Gaza, described “any plan that ends with transfer or reoccupation” as a red line.
The new Trump administration has promised “steadfast support” for Israel, and hardline supporters of its expansion have taken key positions, including the ambassador
Trump’s UN ambassador said at the confirmation hearings that she considers Israel to have a “biblical right” to the West Bank, which Israel occupied in 1967 but which most of the world recognizes as the heart of a future Palestinian state.
Trump also said on Saturday that he had ordered the resumption of shipments of some of the largest bombs to Israel, a move widely expected.
Biden paused Delivery of 2000 lb bombs Because of fears of civilian casualties in Gaza due to powerful weapons that penetrate thick concrete and metal over a wide area.
When asked why he dropped the bombs, Trump replied, “Because they bought them.”
The Biden administration had sent thousands of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel after the war began, before halting the shipments last year.
