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The US president has doubled down on his Gaza resettlement idea during a meeting with the Israeli PM
President Donald Trump, during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, proposed the permanent resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries, describing the area as a “demolition site” unfit for habitation.
The meeting took place amid a fragile six-week ceasefire in Gaza, following 15 months of conflict between Israel and Hamas. According to the UN, around 1.9 million people – more than 90% of Gaza’s population – have been displaced since the war broke out in October 2023.
Approximately 92% of homes in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or severely damaged, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Trump, a former real estate mogul, has repeatedly referred to Gaza as a “demolition site” in recent weeks.
“I mean, there’s hardly a building standing, and the ones that are are going to collapse,” Trump said at his joint press conference with Netanyahu, also warning of “a very dangerous situation in terms of explosives all over the place.”
Trump suggested that nations such as Jordan and Egypt could host displaced Palestinians, despite these countries previously expressing reluctance to accept them.
“You can’t live in Gaza right now, and I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy,” he said. “If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people permanently in nice homes, where they can be happy and not be shot, not be killed, not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza.”
Netanyahu did not comment on Trump’s proposal but expressed gratitude for the US president’s involvement in the Gaza ceasefire, acknowledging his “great force and powerful leadership” in facilitating the agreement. He also outlined Israel’s objectives moving forward: securing the release of all hostages, destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.
Although the sides agreed to a ceasefire on January 15, Israel has since accused Hamas of violating a prisoner swap arrangement and halted the return of Gazans to their home in the northern part of the enclave. Both sides have also accused each other of ceasefire violations.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, rejected Trump’s proposal, stating that Palestinians “want to rebuild Gaza because this is where we belong.”
“For those who want to send the Palestinian people to a ‘nice place,’ allow them to go back to their original homes in what is now Israel,” Mansour said.
Hamas officials also condemned Trump’s suggestion, calling it “a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region” and vowing to resist any displacement efforts. “Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass. What is required is an end to the occupation and aggression against our people, not their expulsion from their land,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said.
