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Palestinians walk next to damaged buildings and rubble in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29 2024. Picture: REUTERS/ABD ELHKEEM KHALED
Palestinians walk next to damaged buildings and rubble in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29 2024. Picture: REUTERS/ABD ELHKEEM KHALED

Washington — US President Donald Trump says Jordan and Egypt should take in more Palestinians from Gaza after Israel’s military assault caused a dire humanitarian situation and killed tens of thousands.

Asked whether moving displaced Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt was a temporary or long-term solution for Gaza, Trump said on Saturday: “Could be either.”

A Hamas officials reacted with suspicion to the remarks, echoing long-standing Palestinian fears about being driven permanently from their homes.

Washington had said last year it opposed the forcible displacement of Palestinians. Rights groups and humanitarian agencies have for months raised concerns over the situation in Gaza, with the war displacing nearly the entire population and leading to a hunger crisis.

Washington has also faced criticism for backing Israel but has maintained support for its ally, saying it is helping Israel defend against Iran-backed militant groups such as Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

“I said to him I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess. I’d like him to take people,” Trump, who took office on January 20, said about his call on Saturday with Jordan’s King Abdullah.

“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump told reporters, adding he would speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. “You’re talking about a million-and-a-half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said.

The population in the Palestinian enclave before the start of the Israel-Gaza war was about 2.3-million.

“It’s literally a demolition site, 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 they can maybe live in peace for a change,” Trump said.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed more than 47,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.

Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said Palestinians “will not accept any offers or solutions, even if (such offers) appear to have good intentions under the guise of reconstruction, as announced in the proposals of US President Trump.”

Another Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, urged Trump not to repeat “failed” ideas tried by his predecessor Joe Biden. “The people of Gaza have endured death and refused to leave their homeland and they will not leave it regardless of any other reasons,” he said.

Palestinian analyst Ghassan al-Khatib said Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the Jordanians and Egyptians, would reject Trump’s plan: “I don’t think that there is a place in reality for such an idea.”

A ceasefire went into effect a week ago and has led to the release of some Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Reuters

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