Jerusalem:
US President Donald Trump on Saturday blasted the idea that Jordan and Egypt should take in more Palestinians from Gaza, where Israel’s military actions have killed tens of thousands and created a dire humanitarian situation. The idea was welcomed by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, but Palestinian groups including Islamic Jihad and Hamas vowed to oppose it.
On Saturday, Trump said he had talked to Jordan’s King Abdullah II about getting Palestinians out of Gaza. “I’d like to take people to Egypt. And I’d like to take people to Jordan,” Trump told reporters aboard the Air Force One after his call with Jordan’s King Abdullah.
“It (Gaza) is literally a demolition site, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there, so I would join with some Arab countries and build housing in a different place where they could maybe have a “There can be peaceful changes,” Trump said, adding that he expected to speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Sunday.
Israel welcomes the idea
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a strong opponent of stopping the war in Gaza, welcomed Trump’s proposal. “The idea of helping others find better lives is a great idea,” Smotrich said in a statement. “After years of glorifying terrorism, they will be able to establish new and good lives in other places.” “
“Only out-of-the-box thinking with new solutions will bring a solution to peace and security. I look forward, with God’s help, to working with the Prime Minister and Cabinet to ensure that an operational plan is put in place to implement this Is possible,” he said.
Most Gazans are Palestinian refugees or their descendants. Any attempt to relocate them from Gaza would mirror the mass displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948 – what the Arab world has called the “Nakba”, or catastrophe.
Palestinian groups oppose the proposal
Palestinian group Islamic Jihad on Sunday condemned Trump’s idea to transfer Gaza to Egypt and Jordan, calling it an encouragement of “war crimes.”
Describing Trump’s idea as “outrageous”, the group, which fought a deadly war with Israel in Gaza alongside Hamas until a January 19 ceasefire, said: “This proposal encourages war crimes and crimes against our people. By forcing our people to leave their land.”
A senior Hamas official also said that he would oppose Trump’s idea to transfer Gaza to Egypt and Jordan.
“Just as they have foiled every plan for displacement and alternative homelands for decades, our people will also foil such projects,” said Bassem Nam, a member of Hamas’ political bureau.
situation in gaza
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas forces attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
Israel’s subsequent military offensive on Gaza has killed more than 47,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.
A ceasefire came into effect a week earlier and led to the release of some Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
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