RAMALLAH, Palestine

A Palestinian politician on Wednesday called US President Donald Trump's plan for resettling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip “ethnic cleansing.”

Trump said during a news conference in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Tuesday that the US “will take over” Gaza after relocating Palestinians elsewhere under an extraordinary redevelopment plan that he claimed could turn the enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

"Trump's call represents a call for ethnic cleansing, which is considered a war crime under international law, and a new catastrophe for the Palestinian people," Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Palestinian National Initiative, said in a statement.

He said the US administration “will not succeed with political pressure in what Netanyahu failed with war.”

Barghouti called on all countries of the world, including Arab and Islamic nations, “to declare their categorical rejection of these dangerous plans, which reflect complete ignorance of the Palestinian people, their struggle, and the geopolitics of the region.”

His remarks follow Trump’s declaration that the “US will take over the Gaza Strip” during a news conference Tuesday evening alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump said the Gazan population should be moved to countries like Jordan and Egypt, with the US turning the land into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

The proposal has been rejected around the world by both UN officials and a host of countries including China, Türkiye, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this month, Trump triggered uproar by suggesting that Palestinians in Gaza should be relocated to Jordan and Egypt, calling the enclave a “demolition site” after the Israeli war. His proposal, however, was vehemently rejected by Amman and Cairo.

Trump said during a news conference in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Tuesday that the US “will take over” Gaza after relocating Palestinians elsewhere under an extraordinary redevelopment plan that he claimed could turn the enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

A six-nation Arab ministerial meeting in Cairo on Saturday firmly rejected Palestinian displacement from Gaza and renewed calls for implementing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump’s proposal came after a ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, suspending Israel’s genocidal war that has killed more than 47,500 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in November last year for 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.