Trump wants Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians happymamay

Alice Cody and John Donnison

BBC News, Jerusalem

Reuters Palestinians are waiting to be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza after being displaced to the south at the behest of Israel during the war. A woman in a hijab sits with a blanket on her knees, with a child wearing a red bird next to her.Reuters

US President Donald Trump said he wants Egypt and Jordan to take the Palestinians from Gaza.

Trump said he made a request to King Abdullah of Jordan and plans to ask Egypt’s president on Sunday as well.

“You’re talking probably a million and a half people, and we’re cleaning up this whole thing,” said Trump, who describes Gaza as a “demolition site.” He added that this step “could be temporary” or “could be long-term.”

Hamas has vowed to oppose any such action, and the comments are likely to anger Palestinians in Gaza, who call it home. The Jordanian Foreign Minister said that the Kingdom was “steadfast and steadfast” in its refusal to displace the Palestinians.

Most of Gaza’s population of 2 million was displaced during the 15-month war with Israel, which blocked much of Gaza’s infrastructure.

A Palestinian father carries his daughter next to a destroyed house in the refugee camp in Al-Majazi, central Gaza on January 03, 2025.EPA

The United Nations previously estimated that 60% of structures across Gaza were damaged or destroyed, and it could take decades to rebuild.

Trump made his comments while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One.

“Almost everything is being demolished and people are dying there.

“So I would rather get involved in some Arab country and build housing in a different location where maybe they can live in peace for a change.”

Trump did not provide further details of the proposal, and the topic was not referenced in the official White House readout of the call.

“Our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip have endured death and destruction for 15 months… without leaving their lands. Therefore, they will not accept any offers or solutions, even if they are well intentioned under the title of reconstruction, as announced by us,” said Bassem Nayem, a member of the Gaza Strip. Hamas’ political office told the BBC that President Trump’s proposals, “

He added: “Our people, just as they have thwarted all plans for displacement and an alternative homeland over the decades, will thwart such projects.”

When asked about Trump’s comments, Abu Yahya Rashid, a displaced man in the southern city of Khan Yunis, said:

“We are the ones who decide our fate and what we want. This land is our teeth and the property of our ancestors throughout history. We will not leave it except for the corpses.”

Decades of US foreign policy have been committed to creating a Palestinian state, with Gaza as a key part. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu He refuses this.

The United States has previously said it opposes any forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza or the occupied West Bank, with Then Secretary of State Antony Blinken says last year“They cannot, they must, pressure us to leave Gaza.”

More than two million Palestinian refugees, most of whom have been granted citizenship, live in Jordan, according to the United Nations. They are descendants of some of the approximately 750,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes in the conflicts surrounding the formation of Israel in 1948.

Thousands of Palestinians have fled to Egypt since the war with Israel began, but they are not recognized there as refugees.

In October 2023, President of Egypt Abdel-Fahia El-Sisi He said he rejected any forced displacement of Palestinians In the Sinai Peninsula, and that the only solution was an independent state for the Palestinians.

Some on Israel’s far right want to return to Gaza And establish settlements there. Israel ordered a unilateral withdrawal in 2005, with 21 settlements dismantled and about 9,000 settlers evacuated by the army.

Former far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that he praised Trump “for the initiative to transfer residents from Gaza to Jordan and Egypt.”

“One of our demands from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to promote voluntary migration,” he wrote on X.

Trump’s comments came Displaced people were delayed in returning to their homes In northern Gaza, after Israel accused Hamas of violating the terms of the ceasefire deal.

One man worriedly told the BBC: “There is nothing there – there is no life, everything is being demolished. But still it is a great joy to come back to your land, to your home.”

In separate comments on Air Force One, Trump said he had terminated the former president Joe Biden holds on to supply 2,000 pound bomb to Israel.

“They paid their price and have been waiting for them for a long time,” he told Air Force reporters.

The United States is by far Israel’s largest arms supplier, having helped it build one of the most technologically advanced militaries in the world.

But the war in Gaza has led to renewed calls for the United States to reduce or end arms shipments to Israel, due to the level of destruction caused by American weapons in the territory.

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