United States (US) President, Donald Trump, has proposed a plan to ‘clean out’ Gaza, expressing his desire for Egypt and Jordan to accept Palestinians from the region as part of an effort to establish peace in the Middle East.
Naija News reports that the overwhelming majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have been displaced, often multiple times, due to the conflict that erupted following Hamas’s assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Interacting with reporters aboard Air Force One, President Trump indicated that the relocation of Gaza’s population could be either a temporary or a long-term solution.
Characterizing Gaza as a site of destruction following the Israel-Hamas conflict, Trump mentioned that he had discussed the matter with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and anticipated a conversation with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.
Trump said: “I’d like Egypt to take people. And I’d like Jordan to take people.
“You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know, over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts on that site. And I don’t know, something has to happen.”
“It’s literally a demolition site right now, 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.”
Naija News reports that a delicate ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas, finalized on the final day of former President Joe Biden’s administration and for which Trump has asserted responsibility, has now progressed into its second week.
The new administration under Trump has pledged “unwavering support” for Israel, although it has not yet provided specifics regarding its policy in the Middle East.
On Saturday, Trump announced that he had instructed the Pentagon to proceed with the release of a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs for Israel, which had been previously halted by his predecessor, Biden.
“We released them. We released them today,” Trump said.
“They paid for them and they’ve been waiting for them for a long time.”
Israel’s retaliatory actions have resulted in significant devastation across much of Palestinian territory, leading to widespread destruction of infrastructure. The United Nations has projected that the process of reconstruction will span several years.
During his presidential campaign in October, former real estate mogul Trump remarked that the war-ravaged Gaza Strip could be transformed into a place “better than Monaco” if it were “rebuilt the right way.”
In February, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a former White House advisor, proposed that Israel should evacuate civilians from Gaza to realize the potential of its “waterfront property.”
For Palestinians, any efforts to displace them from Gaza would evoke painful historical memories of what is referred to in the Arab world as the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, which marks the mass displacement of Palestinians during the establishment of Israel 75 years ago.
Israel has refuted any intentions to forcibly relocate Gazans.
However, certain far-right members of the Israeli government have openly endorsed the notion of a mass exodus of Gazans from the Palestinian territory.
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