Palestinians wait to be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza after they were displaced to the south at Israel’s order during the war, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip, January 26, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

US President Donald Trump said Jordan and Egypt should take more Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza, a suggestion rejected by Hamas.

Asked if this was a temporary or long-term solution for Gaza, where Israel’s military assault has caused a dire humanitarian situation and killed tens of thousands, Trump said on Saturday: “Could be either.”

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.

But 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 told Reuters.

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.”

Washington had said last year it opposed the forcible displacement of Palestinians. Rights groups and humanitarian agencies have for months raised concerns over the situation in Gaza, with the war displacing nearly the entire population and leading to a hunger crisis.

Washington has also faced criticism for backing Israel but has maintained support for its ally, saying it is helping Israel defend itself against Iranian-backed militant groups like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

“I said to him I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess. I’d like him to take people,” Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, said after a call on Saturday with Jordan’s King Abdullah.

“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump told reporters, adding he would speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.

“You’re talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said.

The population in the Palestinian enclave prior to the start of the Israel-Gaza war was around 2.3 million.

GAZA IS A ‘DEMOLITION SITE’

“It’s literally a demolition site, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,” Trump said.

Smotrich, who said only “out-of-the-box thinking” could achieve peace, said Trump’s plan would give Palestinians “the opportunity to build new and better lives elsewhere.”

“With God’s help, I will work with the prime minister and cabinet to develop an operational plan to implement this as soon as possible,” he said.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population have been internally displaced by the war. On Sunday, many of those rejected Trump’s suggestion, saying what war couldn’t achieve, politics would be too weak to do. Some called him “arrogant.”

“If he thinks he will forcibly displace the Palestinian people (then) this is impossible, impossible, impossible. The Palestinian people firmly believe that this land is theirs, this soil is their soil,” said Magdy Seidam.

“No matter how much Israel tries to destroy, break, and to show people that it had won, in reality it did not win.”