US PRESIDENT Donald Trump on Saturday called for one-and-a-half million Palestinians to be deported to Egypt and Jordan.
Describing Gaza as a ‘demolition site’, Trump said he had spoken to Jordan’s King Abdullah II about the issue and expected to talk to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.
Trump said on Saturday: ‘I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, a real mess. I’d like Egypt to take people, I’m talking to General Al-Sisi tomorrow.
‘I’d like Egypt to take people and I’d like Jordan to take people. You’re talking about probably a-million-and-a-half people and we’ll just clean out that whole thing.
‘Over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts, that site and I don’t know, something has to happen. 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 houses there in different locations where they can maybe live in peace for a change.’
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday welcomed Trump’s plan, saying: ‘The idea of helping them find other places to start a better life is a great idea. After years of glorifying terrorism, they will be able to establish new and good lives in other places.’
Trump’s son-in-law and former White House employee Jared Kushner has previously suggested in February that Israel empty Gaza of civilians to unlock the potential of its ‘waterfront property’.
In response to Trump’s call, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said: ‘The people of Gaza have endured death and refused to leave their homeland and they will not leave it regardless of any other reasons.’
- Trump confirmed on Saturday that he had ordered the Pentagon to release a shipment of 2,000 pound bombs for Israel which was blocked by his predecessor Biden.
‘We released them. We released them today,’ Trump said. ‘They paid for them and they’ve been waiting for them for a long time.’
70 freed Palestinian prisoners have been banished to Egypt!
A group of 70 Palestinian prisoners, who were released as part of the ceasefire agreement over Gaza on Saturday, have been banished to Egypt, where they were received by senior Hamas officials yesterday.
Earlier, the Hamas Movement announced on Saturday that a senior delegation from the group, led by chairman of its Shura Council Mohamed Darwish, left for Cairo for an official visit.
The released prisoners will spend several days in Cairo before arrangements are made for their travel to other countries.
The Hamas delegation will also meet with Egyptian officials during its stay in Cairo.
A second group of 200 Palestinian prisoners was released on Saturday under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel after al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas handed over four Israeli female captives to a Red Cross crew.
Televised footage showed the arrival of 114 prisoners in the West Bank city of Ramallah from the Ofer military jail aboard three Red Cross buses.
Sixteen prisoners, accompanied by Red Cross representatives, also arrived at the European Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, while two buses carrying the 70 freed Palestinian prisoners arrived in Egypt on the same day.
- Thousands of displaced Palestinians are enduring severe hardships as they wait for the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the so-called Netzarim Corridor, which splits the Gaza Strip into two halves, to return to their homes in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip.
For days, they have been gathering on Rashid and Salah al-Din Streets in the heart of the Gaza Strip, after being forced out of their homes by Israeli forces during the ongoing genocidal war.
Many of these displaced individuals spent the night out in the open, braving the harsh cold along the coast of the Mediterranean, waiting to return to their cities and villages after being pushed south by the Israeli occupation.
The situation remains dire as Israel continues to block their return to the northern regions, violating terms agreed upon in a ceasefire deal that entered into effect last Sunday, January 19th.
