President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would like Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab nations to increase the number of Palestinian refugees they accept from the Gaza Strip, displacing enough of the population to “clean out” the war-torn enclave.
Overturning Biden’s Decision
During a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump also said he’s ended Biden’s hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel.
“We released them today,” Trump said of the bombs. “They’ve been waiting for them for a long time.”
Asked why he lifted the ban on those bombs, Trump responded, “Because they bought them.”
His resuming delivery of large bombs is a break with then-President Biden, who halted their delivery in May as part of an effort to keep Israel from launching an all-out assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. A month later, Israel did invade the city.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN in May when he held up the weapons. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah … I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities that deal with that problem.”
The Biden pause had also held up 1,700 500-pound bombs that had been packaged in the same shipment to Israel, but weeks later those bombs were delivered.
“Clean Out” Gaza
On his larger vision for Gaza, Trump said he had called earlier in the day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and would speak Sunday with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt.
“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’”
Trump said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king, “I’d love for you to take on more, cause I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”
Trump said the part of the world that encompasses Gaza, has “had many, many conflicts” over centuries. He said resettling “could be temporary or long term.”
“Something has to happen,” Trump said. “But it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there.”
He added: “So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”
Gaza Future
Trump has offered non-traditional views on the future of Gaza in the past. He suggested after he was inaugurated on Monday that Gaza has “really got to be rebuilt in a different way.”
The new president added then, ”Gaza is interesting. It’s a phenomenal location, on the sea. The best weather, you know, everything is good. It’s like, some beautiful things could be done with it, but it’s very interesting.”
Ben-Gvir, Smotrich Welcome Trump’s “Clean Out” Gaza Remarks
Israeli far-right ministers have welcomed US President Donald Trump’s idea to “clean out” the war-torn Gaza Strip by displacing 1.5 million Palestinians to Egypt, Jordan and other Arab nations.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, “The idea of helping them find other places to start a better life is a great idea. After years of glorifying terrorism, they will be able to establish new and good lives in other places.”
Former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said, “Congratulations to US President Trump on the initiative to transfer residents from Gaza to Jordan and Egypt,” said Ben-Gvir, who resigned from his role earlier this month, in protest of the ceasefire deal in Gaza.
“One of our demands from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to encourage voluntary immigration, and when the president of the world’s largest power, Trump, himself raises the idea, it would be wise for the Israeli government to implement it – encourage immigration now!”
Hamas Rejects it
Spokesman for Hamas Said:
Trump’s statements regarding the displacement of Gaza’s residents are rejected. The U.S. administration should have exerted pressure on the Israeli occupation to ensure compliance with the agreement signed a few days ago regarding Gaza.
We appreciate the principled stance of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, rejecting the displacement of our Palestinian people or encouraging their transfer or uprooting from their land under any pretext or justification.
We reaffirm the steadfastness of our Palestinian people in holding onto their land and their rejection of displacement and expulsion. We call upon the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to assert their firm rejection of all forms of displacement of our Palestinian people and to support their national rights.
The gathering of Palestinians near the Netzarim checkpoint in central Gaza, in preparation for returning to northern Gaza, shows their commitment to their land and confirms that all U.S. and Israeli displacement plans will fail, as they have before.
Our message is clear: the Palestinian people are capable of rebuilding what the occupation destroyed in Gaza, as we did after the battles of 2009, 2012, and 2014, and not by considering displacement as part of the solution.
We addressed the mediators, stressing the need to oblige the Israeli occupation to fulfill its commitments and open the Netzarim checkpoint to facilitate the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza.
Palestine, Jordan, Egypt Slam Trump’s Proposal to “Clean Out” Gaza
Palestine, Egypt, and Jordan have strongly condemned US President Donald Trump’s proposal to “clean out” the war-torn Gaza Strip by displacing 1.5 million Palestinians to Arab countries.
Palestine
The Palestinian Authority (PA) said the plan “constitutes a blatant violation of the red lines we have consistently warned against”.
“We emphasise that the Palestinian people will never abandon their land or their holy sites, and we will not allow the repetition of the catastrophes (Nakba) of 1948 and 1967. Our people will remain steadfast and will not leave their homeland,” it said.
It urged Trump to sustain the Gaza ceasefire agreement, ensure full withdrawal of Israeli forces, establish the PA as the governing body in the enclave, and advance efforts towards the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state.
Hamas said the US administration must abandon such proposals that align with Israeli “schemes” and conflict with the rights of the Palestinian people, who have already been resisting “the most heinous acts of genocide” and displacement since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) called Trump’s comments an encouragement of “war crimes”.
“To ‘clean’ Gaza immediately after the war would in fact be a continuation of the war, through the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people,” said Hassan Jabareen, the director of Palestinian rights group Adalah.
Mustafa Barghouti, a senior Palestinian politician, said he “completely rejected” Trump’s comments, the Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported. Barghouti warned against attempts at “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza, saying: “The Palestinian people are committed to remaining in their homeland.”
Jordan
“Our principles are clear, and Jordan’s steadfast position to uphold the Palestinians’ presence on their land remains unchanged and will never change,” Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told a joint press conference in Amman.
Jordan’s rejection of resettlement “is steadfast and essential for achieving the stability and peace we all seek,” Safadi said.
“The solution to the Palestinian issue lies in Palestine; Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians,” he added.
The top diplomat said that Jordan “looks forward to working with the US administration to achieve peace in the region.”
Egypt
In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry affirmed “Egypt’s continued support for the resilience of the Palestinian people on their land and their commitment to their legitimate rights in their homeland, in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law.”
It emphasized “its rejection of any infringement on these inalienable rights, whether through (Israeli) settlement expansion, land annexation, or the removal of Palestinians from their land through resettlement, encouragement of transfer, or uprooting, whether temporary or long-term.”
The statement considered such actions a “threat to stability, a warning of an expanded regional conflict, and a barrier to opportunities for peace and coexistence among the region’s peoples.”
Egypt urged “the international community to work toward the actual implementation of the two-state solution, including the establishment of a Palestinian state on its full national territory, in the context of the unity of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the borders of June 4, 1967.”
Egypt “cannot be part of any solution involving the transfer of Palestinians into the Sinai,” the Egyptian Embassy in Washington said, citing an opinion piece published by Ambassador Motaz Zahran on the US website The Hill in October 2023.
