President Donald Trump endorsed the idea of relocating Palestinians in Gaza, proposing to send refugees to Jordan and Egypt to “clean out” the Gaza Strip.
Speaking about his recent conversation with King Abdullah of Jordan, Trump told reporters on Air Force One, “I said to him, ‘I’d love for you to take on more [Palestinian refugees] because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess.’”
“You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. I don’t know. Something has to happen, but it’s literally a demolition site right now,” the president said while returning from a speech in Las Vegas late Saturday night, adding, “So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”
The Jordanian royal court released a statement following the king’s conversation with Trump, saying that Abdullah “stressed the pivotal role of the U.S. in pushing all sides to work towards achieving peace, security, and stability for all in the region.” The statement did not mention forcibly relocating Palestinians.
Trump said that he plans to speak with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi about accepting additional refugees from Palestine on Sunday.
As a ceasefire negotiated by the Biden administration, Qatar and Egypt continues in Gaza — the second since Oct. 7, 2023 — and many thousands of displaced Palestinians begin the journey back to their homes, Trump announced that he is releasing 2,000-pound bombs the Biden administration had halted sending to Israel during its conflict with Hamas.
“We released them today,” Trump said, referring to the bombs. “They’ve been waiting for them for a long time.”
On Truth Social late Saturday night, the president wrote, “A lot of things that were ordered and paid for by Israel, but have not been sent by Biden, are now on their way!”
Nearly all 2 million Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes during the conflict amid the Israeli military’s mass destruction of infrastructure. Estimates say that between 45,000 and 65,000 Palestinians were killed in the conflict since Oct. 2023, and the majority of the dead are women and children. Trump said the relocation of refugees “could be temporary or long term.”
Whether this is Trump just spitballing ideas or if this is a policy of the administration remains to be seen.
Last week, Trump — who in his first administration was ferociously pro-Israel — talked about the future of Gaza, saying it has “really got to be rebuilt in a different way.”
”Gaza is interesting. It’s a phenomenal location, on the sea,” he said. “The best weather, you know, everything is good. It’s like, some beautiful things could be done with it, but it’s very interesting.”
The Red Cross said Saturday that the second phase of hostage release operations have been completed with the transfer of four Israeli hostages and the release of 200 people held in Israeli detention centers.
Trump is sending his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Israel and Gaza as part of an “inspections team” monitoring the ceasefire agreement. Witkoff has said the administration hopes to “normalize” relations between Israel and its neighbors.
