Netanyahu praises Trump’s ‘revolutionary, creative’ Gaza plan

The Israeli Prime Minister has reiterated his support for Trump’s plan to take over Gaza, as the US President compares freed hostages to ‘holocaust survivors’.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump speak to reporters in the White House. Picture: AP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised a proposal from Donald Trump for US control of Gaza and the displacement of its population as “revolutionary”, in a statement to his cabinet following his return to Israel from Washington.

The US president set out a plan last week to move Palestinians out of Gaza to other countries in the region, while the United States would take charge of redeveloping it, sparking a diplomatic backlash.

After returning to Israel from a week long trip to Washington, Mr Netanyahu reiterated his support for the proposal, telling his cabinet: “President Trump came with a completely different, much better vision for Israel – a revolutionary, creative approach that we are currently discussing,” he said.

“He is very determined to implement it, and I believe it opens up many, many possibilities for us,” he added.

Mr Trump told reporters he was committed to the US buying and owning Gaza, but could give sections of the enclave to other countries in the Middle East to help “turn Gaza into a prime location for future development.”

Speaking on board Air Force One, Mr Trump said he would be meeting soon with Saudi Arabia’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, and he expected both would agree to take in Palestinian refugees after speaking to him.

Turning to the release of Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity, Mr Trump compared the three men freed at the weekend to “Holocaust survivors,” adding: “I don’t know how much longer we can take that.”

Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami looked emaciated and haunted as they were paraded on stage by their captors before being handed over to the Red Cross on Saturday night (AEDT). in the fifth hostage-prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas, which also saw 183 Palestinian prisoners released.

Their appearance shocked Israelis, who have demanded that Mr Netanyahu’s government free all the remaining hostages.

Israel’s Channel 12 quoted an Israeli official saying the men’s poor condition “is nothing,” adding that other captives in Gaza are in a much worse state.

“They were in horrible condition, they were emaciated … they look like they haven’t had a meal in a month,” said Mr Trump.

“People that were healthy people a reasonably short number of years ago, and you look at them today, they look like they’ve aged 25 years, they literally look like the old pictures of Holocaust survivors, the same thing. No reason for that,” he added.

He said he knew that under the ceasefire deal hostages would be released in stages. However he said: “They are in really bad shape, they have been treated brutally, horribly.

“You know, at some point, we’re gonna lose our patience.”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday became the latest world leaders to denounce Trump’s plan for Gaza.

“No one has the power to remove the people of Gaza from their eternal homeland,” Mr Erdogan told journalists at Istanbul airport before flying to Malaysia.

“Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem belong to the Palestinians.”

Mr Scholz, speaking during a pre-election debate, described Trump’s plan as “a scandal”, adding: “The relocation of a population is unacceptable and against international law.”

Mr Netanyahu also sparked fury when he said in a television interview that a Palestinian state – which he has long opposed – could be “in Saudi Arabia”.

The Saudi foreign ministry stressed its “categorical rejection to such statements”, while Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said such ideas “are nothing more than mere fantasies or illusions”.

Egypt will host an Arab summit on February 27 to discuss “the latest serious developments” concerning the Palestinian territories, its foreign ministry said Sunday.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty was heading to Washington for talks, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II was due to meet Mr Trump at the White House on February 11.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, Palestinians were on Sunday able to cross the Netzarim Corridor, a strategic zone cutting the narrow territory in two, after Israeli troops withdrew.

“Israeli forces have dismantled their positions … and completely withdrawn their tanks from the Netzarim Corridor on Salaheddin Road, allowing vehicles to pass freely in both directions,” said an official from the Hamas-run interior ministry.

Gaza resident Mahmoud al-Sarhi said “arriving at the Netzarim Corridor meant death until this morning”.

This is “the first time I saw our destroyed house”, he told AFP of his home in the nearby Zeitun area.

“The entire area is in ruins. I cannot live here.”

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces had shot dead three civilians in Gaza City north of Netzarim on Sunday.

The military said it had fired “warning shots” and hit Palestinians who had approached troops.