Trump’s claim about Palestinians in Gaza doesn’t stack up

US President Donald Trump made a number of questionable claims during a press conference on Monday but one was a blatant misrepresentation.

COMMENT

Donald Trump’s plan to permanently displace the entire population of the seaside enclave of Gaza was never going to be an easy sell.

I think we can mostly all agree that framing it as an economic development opportunity and rebranding the region “the Riviera of the Middle East” was up there with the wildest ideas from a world leader in recent memory.

But this morning, the US President doubled down — even if he had to lean very heavily into the realm of make-believe to try to sell the idea to the world.

Speaking to reporters about the US plan to send Palestinians into Egypt and Jordan — a move that critics say would constitute ethnic cleaning — Mr Trump uttered a phrase that is simply not true.

In seven words he induced eye rolls around the globe.

US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on February 10, 2025. Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP

“They’re all going to want to leave”, he said.

“If we can build a nice place for people to live safely, everybody in Gaza would do it.

“They’ve been ... treated like trash and would like to get out of Gaza. Until now they’ve never had an alternative. Now they have an alternative.

“When they have a nice place that is safe, they will all leave. It’s a hellhole right now.”

Asked by reporters how he could be so sure, the President gave a non-answer.

“You are going to see people want to leave.”

The truth is that Palestinians do not want to leave. A war waged in the region by Israel that started after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 has seen much of Gaza reduced to rubble. But Palestinians still didn’t leave.

At the height of the humanitarian crisis that followed, when countless numbers starved to death, Palestinians still didn’t leave.

When Palestinians were asked last week about the US President’s plan to build communities outside Gaza for the millions who live there, the response was wholly predictable.

US President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office on February 10, 2025, in Washington, DC. Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP

“(I) would rather eat the rubble (than leave),” one man told CNN while he was repairing his home in central Gaza.

One woman told the broadcaster: “We will not leave our land or homes, despite the great destruction and everything that happened in Gaza, we are here and will remain here.”

“Even if it costs us our souls, we will not leave Gaza,” another man told the BBC.

Videos from Gaza following the ceasefire show residents returning to what is left of their homes and rebuilding what they can.

The notion that a decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict can be settled by building some new real estate is pretty out there.

The plan is not the end of Mr Trump’s extraordinary intervention in the Middle East.

He has also set a deadline for all hostages help by Hamas to be returned to Israel, warning that “all hell” will break out and that the fragile ceasefire could be cancelled at any minute.

“Let that be Israel’s decision,” he said of the ceasefire, before going on.

“As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday 12 o’clock — I think it’s an appropriate time — I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out,” he said.

Sahar Karima, a displaced Palestinian woman, weeps in front of her soaked tent on a rainy day in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 10, 2025. Picture: Bashar Taleb/AFP

He did not elaborate on what the threat, saying only that “Hamas will find out what I mean”.

In the meantime, the US President will push ahead with his US takeover proposal for Gaza.

Asked at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week whether Palestinians could return to Gaza under the plan, he said this:

“No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing.

“In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever — it’s not habitable.”

The hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who returned to Gaza in recent weeks may not be able to rebuild in what has become a toxic wasteland.

But claims by Mr Trump today that they will simply “want to leave” fail to recognise how much they’ve already endured and the strength of their attachment to the land.

Originally published as Trump’s claim about Palestinians in Gaza doesn’t stack up