Ahmed Asmar
01 February 2025•Update: 01 February 2025
ISTANBUL
The Palestinian group Hamas on Saturday slammed the repeated US statements on displacing Palestinians from Gaza as "absurd and meaningless."
In a statement, Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas leader, said the "plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza are absurd and meaningless," stressing: "What the Israeli occupation failed to achieve by force, will not be accomplished through political maneuvers."
"The repeated US announcements on displacing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip under the pretext of its reconstruction reflect a persistent complicity in the crime," Abu Zuhri said.
The Hamas leader considered the US administration’s insistence on the displacement plans for Gaza’s Palestinians as "a recipe for further chaos and tension in the region."
On Friday, US President Donald Trump said he is "confident" Egypt and Jordan would take Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, stressing and affirming previous statements on the issue.
"I heard somebody said they're not going to, but I think they will. I feel confident they will," Trump said from the Oval Office.
Trump doubled down Thursday on his controversial proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, insisting that Egypt and Jordan would comply, despite their repeated rejections.
"They will do it. They will do it. They’re going to do it, okay? We do a lot for them, and they’re going to do it," Trump told reporters when asked if he would consider measures to pressure Cairo and Amman to accept his plan.
Trump suggested over the weekend to “clean out” Gaza and resettle Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan, describing the enclave as a “demolition site” after Israel’s genocidal war.
The two countries, however, vehemently rejected any call for the displacement or relocation of Palestinians from their land.
Trump's proposal came after a ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, suspending the Israeli war, that has killed more than 47,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023, according to Gaza's health authorities.
Trump's proposal has received widespread condemnation, with critics calling it "ethnic cleansing" and a "war crime." Many countries in the Muslim and Arab world as well as European nations such as France have firmly rejected the idea.
