ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE – President Donald Trump said he would like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries increase the number of Palestinian refugees they accept from the Gaza Strip, possibly removing enough people to “clean up” the war. -torn area to create a clean visual slide.
During a 20-minute question-and-answer session Saturday with reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump also said he had completed his predecessor’s mission to send 2,000 bombs to Israel. That raises the level of pressure aimed at reducing casualties during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, which has been halted by a strict ceasefire.
“We released them today,” Trump said of the bombs. “They have been waiting for you for a long time.” Asked why he lifted the ban on those bombs, Trump replied, “Because they bought them.”
Trump has built his political career on unabashed support for Israel. In his grand vision of Gaza, Trump said he had a phone call this morning with King Abdullah II of Jordan and will speak on Sunday with President Adel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt.
“I would like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean this whole thing up and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’
Trump said he praised Jordan for successfully accepting Palestinian refugees and told the king, “I’d like you to take more, because I’m looking at the entire Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess.” It’s really a mess.”
Such massive displacement would clearly contradict Palestinian identity and deep ties to Gaza. Nevertheless, Trump said that the part of the world that includes Gaza, “has had too many conflicts” for centuries. He said rehabilitation “can be short-term or long-term.”
“Something has to happen,” Trump said. “But it’s actually a demolition site. Almost everything has been demolished, and people are dying there.” He added: “Therefore, I prefer to join the Arab nations, and build houses in a different place, where they can live in peace for a change.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement on Sunday, thanked Trump for “keeping your promise to give Israel the tools it needs to defend itself.” He did not mention Trump’s proposal regarding Palestinian refugees.
Trump has offered unorthodox views on the future of Gaza in the past. He suggested after his inauguration on Monday that Gaza “definitely needs to be rebuilt in a different way.”
The new president then added, “Gaza is interesting. It is an amazing place, on the sea. The best weather you know, everything is fine. It’s like, some good things can be done with it, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Resuming the delivery of heavy bombs, on the other hand, is a break with then-President Joe Biden, who suspended their delivery in May as part of an effort to prevent Israel from launching an attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. A month later, Israel took control of the city, but only after most of the one million residents who lived or took refuge in Rafah fled.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza because of those bombs and other means that go after human centers,” Biden told CNN in May as he raised arms. “I made it clear that if they enter Rafah … I will not provide the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities that are facing that problem.”
The Biden campaign also raised 1,700 500 500-pound bombs that were packed in the same place to Israel, but a few weeks later those bombs were delivered.
Trump’s action comes as he celebrated the first phase of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that has halted the war and saw the release of some of those held captive by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for the return of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Negotiations are yet to begin in earnest on a second, more difficult phase of the deal that will ultimately result in the release of all Hamas hostages and an indefinite ceasefire.
If the remaining hostages are not released, the Israeli government has threatened to resume its war with Hamas, which launched a major attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
– Miller reported from Washington
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