Trump under fire over moving out Gaza population plan
U.S. President Donald Trump came under fire on Sunday over moves to move Palestinians out of Gaza to neighbouring Arab countries.
Trump was reported to have said on Saturday that he had asked Jordan to take more Palestinians, and would speak to Egyptian leader on the matter. Trump has said that the movement of the Palestinians could be permanent.
However, in a strong reaction, Hamas said no Palestinian will move to anywhere under any arrangement.
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 U.S. President Trump,”
Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, told Reuters.
Rights groups and humanitarian agencies have for months raised concerns over the situation in Gaza following the total devastation of the strip by Israel, that has sent millions out without shelter and food.
Washington has also faced criticism for backing Israel’s genocide in Gaza, currently a subject of contention before the International Criminal Court in the Hague. The U.S has also continued to provide the bombs being dropped on civilians in Palestine.
But Trump said in his telephone conversation with King Abdullah that his plan is to get the Palestinians out of the Gaza strip.
“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.”
“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.
The latest bloodshed in the conflict that began since 1948 has killed almost 50,000 people.
In spite of the ceasefire which came into effect a week ago, Israel has continued to kill more people and destroyed infrastructure in other parts of Palestinian territory, and has blocked thousands of Palestinians returning to Gaza.