Nelson Morales

Trump floats plan to 'just clean out' Gaza

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1737870419480173518273361612-26-2024 11-32-26 AM.webp" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="People inspect the site of reported Israeli bombardment on tents sheltering Palestinians displaced from Beit Lahia at a camp in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on December 25, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. Bashar Taleb, AFP"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">People inspect the site of reported Israeli bombardment on tents sheltering Palestinians displaced from Beit Lahia at a camp in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on December 25, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. Bashar Taleb, AFP</span></span></span></div><p>MIAMI — US President Donald Trump floated a plan Saturday to &quot;just clean out&quot; Gaza, and said he wants Egypt and Jordan to take Palestinians from the territory in a bid to create Middle East peace.</p><p>Describing Gaza as a &quot;demolition site&quot; after the Israel-Hamas war, Trump said he had spoken to Jordan&#x27;s King Abdullah II about the issue and expected to talk to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;d like Egypt to take people. And I&#x27;d like Jordan to take people,&quot; Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.</p><p>&quot;You&#x27;re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know, over the centuries it&#x27;s had many, many conflicts that site. And I don&#x27;t know, something has to happen.&quot;</p><p>The vast majority of Gaza&#x27;s 2.4 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, by the war that began with Hamas&#x27;s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.</p><p>Trump said moving Gaza&#x27;s inhabitants could be &quot;temporarily or could be long term.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/25/us-freezes-almost-all-aid-except-for-israel-egypt-arms-memo-0841">US freezes almost all aid except for Israel, Egypt arms: memo</a></div><p>&quot;It&#x27;s literally a demolition site right now, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there,&quot; added Trump.</p><p>&quot;So I&#x27;d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change.&quot;</p><p>A fragile truce and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas — which was signed on the last day of former US president Joe Biden&#x27;s administration but which Trump has claimed credit for — has entered its second week.</p><div><strong>BOMB SHIPMENT RELEASED</strong></div><p>Trump&#x27;s new administration has promised &quot;unwavering support&quot; for Israel, without yet laying out details of its Middle East policy.</p><p>Trump confirmed on Saturday that he had ordered the Pentagon to release a shipment of 2,000-lb bombs for Israel which was blocked by his predecessor Biden.</p><p>&quot;We released them. We released them today,&quot; Trump said. &quot;They paid for them and they&#x27;ve been waiting for them for a long time.&quot;</p><p>Israel&#x27;s retaliatory offensive has left much of the Palestinian territory in ruins, with infrastructure destroyed, and the United Nations estimates reconstruction will take many years.</p><p>In October during his presidential campaign, former real estate developer Trump said that war-torn Gaza could be &quot;better than Monaco&quot; if it was &quot;rebuilt the right way.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2024/11/23/israeli-settlers-set-sights-on-trump-support-for-full-control-of-west-bank-2133">Israeli settlers set sights on Trump support for full control of West Bank</a></div><p>Trump&#x27;s son-in-law and former White House employee Jared Kushner suggested in February that Israel empty Gaza of civilians to unlock the potential of its &quot;waterfront property.&quot;</p><p>For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark historical memories of what the Arab world calls the &quot;Nakba&quot; or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel&#x27;s creation 75 years ago.</p><p>Israel has denied having any plans to force Gazans to move.</p><p>But some extreme-right members of the Israeli government have publicly supported the idea of Gazans leaving the Palestinian territory en masse.<br/><br/><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4CtnMHZpysI?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>Trump confirmed on Saturday that he had ordered the Pentagon to release a shipment of 2,000-lb bombs for Israel which was blocked by his predecessor Biden.</p>

Trump confirmed on Saturday that he had ordered the Pentagon to release a shipment of 2,000-lb bombs for Israel which was blocked by his predecessor Biden.