President Trump said he told Jordan’s King Abdullah II during a phone call Saturday that he would like Jordan and Egypt to take more Palestinians from Gaza, an idea that could spark a debate over the future of the nearly two million Palestinians.
“I said to him, ‘I’d like you to take more because I’ve looked all over Gaza right now, and it’s bad,'” said Mr. Trump told reporters on Air Force One. He also added that he would also like Egypt to take in more Palestinians and he will talk to the country’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, on Sunday.
Mr. Trump said these words on the afternoon flight after the meeting in Las Vegas; it is not clear whether they indicate a change in American policy towards the Palestinians.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have begun to return to their homes as the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel enters its second week. It is only the second break in fighting between the two since October 7, 2023, when Hamas led an attack on Israel that killed more than 1,200 Israelis. Since then, Israeli forces have killed at least 46,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health officials who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. It also destroyed thousands of homes and buildings in Gaza and killed many Hamas leaders.
Most of the two million Palestinians in Gaza have had to flee their homes at least once. And although aid has increased in recent days, the humanitarian situation remains dire, with water, food and medicine running low and few functioning hospitals remaining.
“You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean that whole thing up,” said Mr. Trump on Gaza. “I don’t know. Something has to happen, but it’s basically a demolition site right now.”
Millions of Palestinian refugees live in camps in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and several other countries in the Middle East. Since the start of the war, Egypt has said it will no longer accept Palestinian refugees, and any attempt to force Palestinians into its territory jeopardizes the agreements it has with Israel.
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