Trump’s troops for a ‘take over’ Gaza Strip
Trump suggests his plan for Gaza Strip is to ‘clean out the whole thing.’
‘The US will ‘take over’ Gaza and could deploy troops if ‘necessary,’ to create ‘Riviera of the Middle East’
CNN Politics January 26, 2025 ~ Middle East Eye The Times of Israel
President Donald Trump indicated Saturday that he had spoken with the king of Jordan about potentially building housing and moving more than 1 million Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries, a remarkable proposal from a sitting US president.
Trump said he asked Jordan’s Abdullah II, a key US partner in the region, to take in more Palestinians in a Saturday phone call.
“I said to him that I’d love you to take on more, because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Jordan’s state news agency Petra reported the call with Trump, but made no mention of relocating Palestinians. The kingdom is already home to more than 2.39 million registered Palestinian refugees, according to the UN.
Trump said he would like both Jordan and Egypt – which borders the battered enclave – to house people, and that he would speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi about the matter on Sunday.
“You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said, adding that there have been centuries-long conflicts in the region.
Gazans hoping to return to their homes in northern Gaza run after the Israeli military opened fire to prevent them from crossing into the area on Saturday, January 25.
He continued: “I don’t know, something has to happen, but it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change.”
The president, a former property developer, said that the potential housing “could be temporary” or “could be long-term.”
Amit Segal, an analyst with Israeli network Channel 12 News, cited Israeli officials and reported that the move was “not a slip of the tongue but part of a much broader move than it seems, coordinated with Israel.”
A source familiar with the matter confirmed the reporting to CNN but gave no further details. CNN has reached out to the US State Department for comment.
Comments mark break with US policy
As well as killing tens of thousands of people, the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas has reduced much of Gaza to rubble. Israeli airstrikes have damaged or destroyed around 60 per cent of buildings, including schools and hospitals, and around 92 per cent of homes, according to the UN.
Approximately 90% of Gazans have been displaced, and many residents have been forced to move repeatedly, some more than 10 times, according to the UN.
Trump’s comments appear to break with decades of US foreign policy, which has long emphasized a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
There has long been a fear in the region that Israel wants to push Palestinians out of Gaza into neighboring countries – a premise Israel rejects but one supported by far-right factions of its governing coalition.
El-Sisi criticized Israel’s move to evacuate more than a million residents from northern Gaza in October 2023, characterizing it as part of a larger plan to rid the entire area of Palestinians.
Israel’s far-right to expel Gaza’s Palestinians
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A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob 