United States President Donald Trump said Palestinians would not have the right to return to Gaza under his plan for American "ownership" of the war-torn territory, refuting claims by his administration officials that he was only advocating temporary population relocation.
Less than a week after he outlined a plan for the US to take control of Gaza and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East", Trump, when asked in an interview with Fox News whether Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza, replied: "No, they wouldn't because they would have much better housing."
The statement comes as Trump is ramping up pressure on Arab states, especially US allies Jordan and Egypt, to take in Palestinians from Gaza. "I think I could make a deal with Jordan. I think I could make a deal with Egypt. You know, we give them billions and billions of dollars a year," Trump added.
“We’re going to build safe communities, a little bit further away from where they are now and where the danger is,” Trump said. “In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be beautiful land. There’s no big expense.”
Arab countries have sharply criticized Trump's proposal, and his latest statements came a day before he is set to host Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House today, the Associated Press reports.
Following Trump's statements on Gaza last week, White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt and Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted that Trump wanted Palestinians to temporarily move out of Gaza and that it would only be a "transitional" period to allow for the removal of rubble, neutralization of unexploded ordnance, and reconstruction.
Trump last week did not rule out the possibility of sending US troops to secure the territory, but at the same time insisted that no US funds would be used to rebuild Gaza, raising fundamental questions about the nature of his plan.
The three-week-old ceasefire in Gaza was thrown into doubt on Tuesday after Hamas told mediators that US guarantees of a ceasefire were no longer in effect due to Trump's displacement plan, Egyptian security sources said. The group also said it would suspend the release of Israeli hostages, citing Israeli violations of the ceasefire.
In response, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that Hamas had violated the ceasefire agreement with this announcement and that he had ordered the military to prepare to the highest level of combat readiness in Gaza and to defend Israeli communities.
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