US President Donald Trump proposed a plan on Saturday to “just clean out” Gaza, suggesting that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from the territory to help achieve Middle East peace.
Referring to Gaza as a “demolition site” after the Israel-Hamas conflict, Trump mentioned that he had spoken with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and planned to talk with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.
“I’d like Egypt to take people. And I’d like Jordan to take people,” Trump said to reporters aboard Air Force One.
He added, “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know, over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts on that site. And I don’t know, something has to happen.”
The majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have been displaced multiple times due to the ongoing war that began with Hamas’s attack on Israel’s southern region on October 7, 2023.
Trump indicated that relocating Gaza’s people could be either “temporary or could be long term.”
“It’s literally a demolition site right now, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there,” Trump added.
He suggested working with Arab nations to build housing in other locations where people could potentially live in peace.
Meanwhile, a fragile ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, signed during the final day of Joe Biden’s administration but claimed by Trump as his achievement, has now entered its second week.
Trump’s current administration has committed to “unwavering support” for Israel, although it has yet to outline specific Middle East policies.
On Saturday, Trump confirmed that he had instructed the Pentagon to release a shipment of 2,000-lb bombs to Israel that had been blocked by his predecessor, Biden.
“We released them. We released them today,” Trump confirmed. “They paid for them and they’ve been waiting for them for a long time.”
Israel’s retaliatory attacks have left much of Gaza in ruins, with widespread destruction of infrastructure. The United Nations estimates that reconstruction could take years.
Earlier in his presidential campaign, Trump remarked that war-torn Gaza could become “better than Monaco” if it were “rebuilt the right way.”
In February, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former White House official, suggested that Israel should clear Gaza of civilians to unlock the potential of its “waterfront property.”
For Palestinians, any attempt to forcibly relocate them from Gaza would recall the “Nakba” or catastrophe—referring to the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s founding 75 years ago.
Israel has denied any plans to forcibly expel Gaza’s residents.
However, some far-right members of Israel’s government have supported the idea of evacuating Gaza en masse.
