Mohamed Majed
26 January 2025•Update: 27 January 2025
ISTANBUL
Palestinians on Sunday strongly condemned US President Donald Trump’s call to “clean out” the Gaza Strip and resettle them in Jordan and Egypt.
"The Palestinian people and their leadership categorically reject any policies or actions aimed at undermining the unity of the Palestinian land, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem,” the Palestinian Presidency said in a statement.
It emphasized that the Palestinian people "will never abandon their land or their holy sites, and we will not allow the repetition of the catastrophes (Nakba) of 1948 and 1967.”
“Our people will remain steadfast and will not leave their homeland,” it stressed in a statement.
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas also denounced Trump’s call for resettlement of Gaza’s population in neighboring countries.
"Our people, who have stood steadfast in the face of the most horrific acts of genocide in modern history perpetrated by the fascist Israeli occupation army…categorically reject any plans for their relocation or deportation from their land,” it said in a statement.
The group called on the US administration "to abandon these proposals, which align with Israeli plans and clash with the rights and free will of our people."
It also demanded the US administration “to work to enable the Palestinian people to achieve their freedom and establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
'Mere illusion'
Hamas called on Washington to pressure Israel “to expedite mechanisms for rebuilding what was destroyed during its brutal war on Gaza and restoring normal life in the strip."
It also appealed to Arab and Islamic nations, particularly Egypt and Jordan, “to reaffirm their steadfast positions rejecting resettlement and deportation” and provide all forms of support to the Palestinian people.
Gaza’s government media office called on all countries of the world to reject Trump’s plan for resettling Palestinians.
“The talks about resettlement aligns with the (Israeli) occupation’s declared efforts during the aggression to displace our people,” the media office said in a statement.
“The idea will remain a mere illusion in the mind of those who propose it, and it is doomed to failure as all displacement plans and efforts over the previous decades.”
Describing Gaza as a "demolition site," Trump called on Saturday to “just clean out” the Palestinian enclave and resettle Palestinians in Jordan and Egypt.
“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 told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over,’” he added.
His proposal came a week after a ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, suspending Israel’s genocidal war that has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured more than 111,000 since Oct. 7, 2023.
The Israeli onslaught has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in November last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala
