Trump proposes Gaza population transfer plan

U.S. President Donald Trump proposed relocating Gaza’s Palestinian population while speaking to reporters on Saturday, describing a controversial plan to facilitate what he termed “cleaning out” the territory.

Trump confirmed he had discussed potential population transfers with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and planned to speak with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi about taking in Gaza’s residents.

“I’d like Egypt to take people. And I’d like Jordan to take people,” Trump stated. “You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know, over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts that site.”

Humanitarian Crisis

The majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have been displaced during the ongoing conflict that began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Trump suggested the proposed relocation could be “temporarily or could be long term.”

“It’s literally a demolition site right now, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there,” Trump said, proposing that Arab nations could “build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”

Arms Shipment Confirmation

Trump confirmed he had ordered the release of a shipment of 2,000-lb bombs to Israel that had been previously blocked by the Biden administration. “We released them. We released them today,” Trump stated. “They paid for them and they’ve been waiting for them for a long time.”

Historical Context

For Palestinians, proposals for population transfer evoke the “Nakba” (catastrophe) – the mass displacement during Israel’s establishment in 1948. While Israeli officials have denied plans to forcibly relocate Gaza’s population, some far-right members of the Israeli government have publicly supported such proposals.

The statement follows earlier comments by Jared Kushner, Trump’s former White House advisor, who in February suggested clearing Gaza of civilians to develop its “waterfront property.”

Gaza’s reconstruction will take many years, according to United Nations estimates, with significant infrastructure already destroyed in the ongoing conflict.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​