‘You know, it’s over’: Trump floats plan to ‘just clean out’ Gaza

Washington: US President Donald Trump wants Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations to take in far more Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip – potentially moving out enough of the population to “just clean out” the war-torn area to create a virtual clean slate.

During a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday [Sunday AEDT], Trump said he discussed his vision on a call earlier in the day with King Abdullah of Jordan and would speak to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt on Sunday.

“I’d like him to take people. I’d like Egypt to take people,” said Trump. “You’re talking about, probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’ ”

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One as he travelled from Las Vegas to Miami.Credit: AP

Speaking about the effects of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, Trump said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king, “I’d love for you to take on more, ’cause I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”

He said of such a mass movement of Palestinians, “It could be temporary or long term”, adding that the area of the world that encompasses Gaza, “over centuries”, has “had many, many conflicts”.

“Something has to happen,” Trump said. “But it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there.” He added: “So I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”

Jordan on Sunday rejected talk of any displacement of Palestinians, its Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi saying that position was “firm and unwavering”.

Palestinian children play next to a building destroyed by Israeli army strikes in the central Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis on January 1.Credit: AP

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has repeatedly called for the return of Jewish settlers to Gaza, welcomed Trump’s call as “an excellent idea” and said he would work to develop a plan to implement it.

A Hamas official reacted with suspicion, echoing long-standing Palestinian fears about being driven permanently from their homes.

Palestinians “will not accept any offers or solutions, even if (such offers) appear to have good intentions under the guise of reconstruction, as announced in the proposals of US President Trump,” Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, told Reuters.

Another Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, urged Trump not to repeat “failed” ideas tried by his predecessor Joe Biden.

“The people of Gaza have endured death and refused to leave their homeland, and they will not leave it regardless of any other reasons,” Abu Zuhri said.

Palestinian analyst Ghassan al-Khatib said Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the Jordanians and Egyptians, would reject Trump’s plan: “I don’t think that there is a place in reality for such an idea.”

The war in Gaza has been devastating for children: more than 13,000 have been killed, an estimated 25,000 injured, and at least 25,000 hospitalised for malnutrition, according to UN agencies.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on Thursday that of the 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far in Gaza, a third – 13,319 – were children. The office said on Friday that the figures came from Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Trump has ended former president Joe Biden’s hold on sending 3500 bombs to Israel, lifting a pressure point that had been meant to reduce civilian casualties during the US ally’s war with Hamas.

Last Monday, Trump called Gaza “a massive demolition site” and said that it would have to be “rebuilt in a different way” than after previous wars.

Gaza’s location is “phenomenal” and has the “best weather”, Trump said. “Beautiful things could be done over there, fantastic things.”

The US could help rebuild Gaza, he said, but Hamas can play no part in governing the enclave.

He continued: “You certainly can’t have the people that were there. Most of them are dead. But they didn’t exactly run it well. They run viciously and badly. You can’t have that.”

As the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas hangs in the balance, Trump posted to his social media network Truth Social that “a lot of things that were ordered and paid for by Israel, but have not been sent by Biden, are now on their way!”

“We released them today,” Trump said of the 900-kilogram bombs. He told reporters on Air Force One, “they’ve been waiting for them for a long time. You know, they’ve been in storage for a long time and we released them today to Israel.”

Biden halted the delivery of the large bombs in May as part of an effort to keep Israel from launching an all-out assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. A month later, Israel did take control of the city, but after the vast majority of the 1 million civilians that had been living or sheltering in Rafah had fled.

Trump’s action, five days into his term, comes as he celebrated the first phase of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that has paused the fighting and under which some hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have been released in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Negotiations have yet to begin in earnest on the more difficult second phase of the deal that would eventually see the release of all hostages held by Hamas and an enduring halt to the fighting.

The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to resume its war against Hamas – which launched a massive assault against Israel on October 7, 2023 – if remaining hostages are not released.

Netanyahu said last week that Trump promised him Israel would have Washington’s backing to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas breaks the ceasefire.

AP

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.