On board Air Force One – President Donald Trump said he would like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries increase the number of Palestinian refugees they accept from the Gaza Strip, potentially evacuating Enough population to “simply clean up” war. -Torn to create a virtual clean table.
During a 20-minute question and answer session on Saturday with journalists on Air Force One, Trump also said that he had ended his predecessor’s grip on sending 2 bombs 000 pounds in Israel. This lifts a pressure point supposed to reduce civil losses during the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which is now interrupted by a fragile ceasefire.
“We have released them today,” said Trump about bombs. “They have been waiting for them for a long time.” When asked why he had raised the ban on these bombs, Trump replied: “because they bought them”.
Trump has built his political career by being resolutely pro-Israeli. Regarding his broader vision for Gaza, Trump said that he had called the King Abdallah II from Jordan earlier and that he would teach himself on Sunday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi.
“I would like Egypt to welcome people,” said Trump. “You are probably talking about a million and a half people, and we clean it all up and say: ‘You know, it’s over.'”
Trump said that he had congratulated Jordan for successfully accepting the Palestinian refugees and that he had said to the king: “I would like you to take more, because I watch the whole Gaza band right now, And it’s a disaster. It is a real waste.
Such a drastic population would openly contradict the Palestinian identity and its deep link with Gaza. However, Trump said that the part of the world that includes Gaza “experienced many conflicts” over the centuries. He said that resettlement “could be temporary or long -term”.
“Something should happen,” said Trump. “But it is literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything is demolished and people are dying.” He added: “So I prefer to get involved with certain Arab nations and build housing in a different place, where they may be able to live in peace, to change. »»
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump on Sunday for “keeping his promise to give Israel the tools he needs to defend himself”. He did not mention Trump’s suggestion concerning Palestinian refugees.
Trump has presented non -traditional points of view on the future of Gaza in the past. He suggested after his inauguration on Monday that Gaza had to “really be rebuilt in a different way”.
The new president then added: “Gaza is interesting. It is a phenomenal place, by the sea. The best time, you know, everything is fine. It’s like we could do beautiful things with it, but it’s very interesting. “
Meanwhile, the resumption of deliveries of large bombs is a break with the president of the time, Joe Biden, who had interrupted their delivery in May as part of an effort to prevent Israel from launching a total attack on the City of Rafah, in the south of Gaza. A month later, Israel actually took control of the city, but after the vast majority of the million civilians who lived or took refuge in Rafah fled.
“Civilians were killed in Gaza because of these bombs and other ways they attack the population centers,” Biden told CNN in May when he brandished arms. “I clearly indicated that if they entered Rafah … I would not provide weapons that were used historically to take care of Rafah, to take care of cities, which solve this problem.”
Biden’s break had also retained 1,700 500 pound bombs that had been packed in the same shipment to Israel, but weeks later, these bombs were delivered.
Trump’s action comes as he celebrates the first phase of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel which interrupted the fighting and saw the release of certain hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for hundreds Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Negotiations must still seriously start on the second, more difficult phase of the agreement, which would eventually see the release of all the hostages held by Hamas and a sustainable fighting.
If the remaining hostages are not released, the Israeli government threatened to regain its war against Hamas, which launched a massive attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
—Miller reported from Washington
