BBC News, Jerusalem
ReutersUS President Donald Trump said he wanted Egypt and Jordan to accept the Gaza Palestinians, which he described as a “destruction site”.
Trump said he told the King of Jordan Abdullah: “I would be glad to take more because I am currently looking at the whole strip of Gaza and is a mess.”
“You are probably talking about a million and a half people, and we just clear all this,” he said, adding that moving “may be temporary” or “can be long -term.” The US president said he plans to make a similar request to the President of Egypt on Sunday.
Hamas has promised to oppose such actions, and the comments will probably anger the Palestinians in Gaza, for whom she is their home.
“Our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip suffered death and destruction for 15 months … without leaving their land. Therefore, they will not accept any suggestions or decisions, even if they seem to be good intentions under the title of recovery, as announced by the US, President Trump's proposals, “Basm Naim, a member of the Hamas Political Office, told the BBC.
“Our people, as all the plans for displacement and alternative homeland over the decades, will thwart such projects,” he added.
Most of the two million Gaza residents were displaced during the 15 months of war with Israel, which destroyed much of the gas infrastructure.
EPAThe United Nations has previously estimated that 60% of gas structures have been damaged or destroyed and may take decades to recover.
Trump made his comments while talking to reporters aboard Air Force One.
“Almost everything is demolished and people die there.
“So I prefer to contact some of the Arab nations and build homes elsewhere where they may be able to live in peace for change.”
Trump did not give more details about the proposal and the topic was not mentioned in the official announcement of the White House read by the conversation.
Asked about Trump's comments, Abu Yaha Rashid, a man displaced in the southern town of Han Einnis, said:
“We are the ones who decide our fate and what we want. This land is ours and the property of our ancestors throughout history. We will not leave it except as corpses.”
For decades, US foreign policy has been committed to the creation of a Palestinian state, with gas as a key part. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects thatS
The United States has previously stated that they are opposed to any violent displacement of Gaza Palestinians or the occupied West Bank, with The then Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said last year: “They cannot, they should not be pressed to leave the gas.”
More than two million Palestinian refugees, most of whom have received citizenship, live in Jordan, according to the UN. They are the descendants of some of the 750,000 Palestinians who have fled or have been forced to leave their homes in conflicts surrounding the formation of Israel in 1948.
Thousands of Palestinians have fled to Egypt since the beginning of the war with Israel, but they have not been recognized as refugees.
In October 2023, President of Egypt Abdel Fatah al -Sisi said he rejected any violent displacement of Palestinians in the Sinai Peninsula and that the only solution is an independent state for the Palestinians.
Some far -right in Israel want to return to Gaza And they set up settlements there. Israel ordered a unilateral withdrawal in 2005, with 21 settlements being dismantled and about 9,000 settlers were evacuated from the army.
The far-right former National Security Minister Itar Ben-Gvir said he congratulates Trump “on the initiative to transfer residents from Gaza to Jordan and Egypt.”
“One of our requests to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to encourage voluntary emigration,” he wrote to X.
Trump's comments were like The displaced people were delayed to return to their homes In northern Gaza, after Israel accused Hamas of breaching the terms of the fire termination agreement.
“There is nothing there – there is no life, everything is destroyed. But still to return to your land, it is a great joy in your home, “said a man who was waiting for the BBC tense.
In separate comments about Air Force One, Trump said he had put an end to the former president Joe Biden's hold on the delivery of 2000-foot bombs for IsraelS
“They paid them and waited for a long time,” he told Air Force One reporters.
The United States is the largest weapon supplier to Israel as it has helped him build one of the most technologically complex armies in the world.
But the Gaza War has led to renewed calls to the United States to reduce or end arms supply to Israel because of the level of destruction caused by US weapons on the territory.