Palestinians have harshly criticized US President Donald Trump’s proposal to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and send them to Egypt and Jordan, raising concerns of ethnic cleansing.
President Trump told reporters on Saturday that it was time to “clean up” the besieged Gaza Strip and called on the leaders of Jordan and Egypt to accept Palestinians from Gaza, either temporarily or permanently. .
The proposal was roundly rejected by Palestinians on Sunday, with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) saying it violated a “red line that must not be crossed”, but Gaza residents along the coast He insisted on staying in the enclave.
“It’s impossible for people to accept this,” Nafiz Halawa, a Palestinian national, told Al Jazeera from Nuseyrat in central Gaza. “Weak people may leave the country because of the suffering they have endured, but the idea of us leaving the country… is simply impossible.”
Elham al-Shabri also rejected this idea. “If we wanted to leave, we would have done so a long time ago. The genocidal war they are waging will accomplish nothing against the Palestinians, and no matter what happens, we will It’s going to stay,” she said.
The PA said in a statement that the plan “represents a blatant breach of the red lines that we have consistently warned should not be crossed.”
“We emphasize that the Palestinian people will never abandon their land and sacred sites and will not allow a repeat of the Nakba of 1948 and 1967. Our people remain steadfast and protect their homeland. I will not leave,” he said. .
They called on President Trump to uphold the Gaza ceasefire agreement, ensure the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, establish Palestine as a governing enclave, and move forward with efforts toward establishing a sovereign Palestinian state.
Hamas, the Palestinian organization that rules Gaza, said the U.S. government should side with Israel’s “conspiracy” and abandon such proposals, which contradict the rights of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people are already resisting the “most heinous act of genocide” and forced displacement. Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which has been fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip for more than 15 months, accused Trump’s comments of encouraging “war crimes.”
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that Jordan’s “refusal of displacement is fixed and cannot be changed” and that Amman looks forward to working with the Trump administration in advancing efforts towards recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state. He said that
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham also appeared to be taken by President Trump’s comments, saying in an interview with CNN that he did not think the idea was “overly realistic” and that Arab countries in the region would reject it. He said he believed that.
Israel blocks returns to northern Gaza
President Trump’s comments came a week after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas went into effect in the Gaza Strip and two prisoner-of-war exchanges were completed.
But thousands of Palestinians waited at barricades Sunday to return to their homes in northern Gaza after Israel refused to open checkpoints after Israel accused Hamas of violating ceasefire agreements.
Israel announced it would open checkpoints after the release of Israeli civilian prisoner Alber Yehud, who is being held by PIJ in the Gaza Strip. Under the ceasefire agreement, civilian prisoners were supposed to be released before soldiers.
PIJ told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Yehud would be released by Saturday in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners.
PIJ deputy secretary-general Mohammed al-Hindi also said his group is “waiting for a practical answer” from the mediator on how Palestinians will be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza. said.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from the Al Rashid Street intersection in Gaza, said “there are no tents” providing shelter for displaced people.
“There is no place for them here. There are no tents. Most people are staying here because they think that after the four Israeli prisoners are released, they can cross to the northern part of the Strip as agreed, so they remove the tents. Because I did.”
“But it looks like I’ll have to sleep here again tonight.”
