The administration of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, seemed to go back on Wednesday after his proposal to take care of Gaza caused a uproar, and the United Nations warn against “ethnic cleaning” in the Palestinian territory.
Facing a wave of criticism of Palestinians, Arab governments and world leaders, Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said that any transfer of Gazans would be temporary, while the White House said there was no commitment to send US troops.
However, Trump insisted that “everyone loves” the plan, which announced the audible gasps during a white house conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Offering few details about how the United States could eliminate more than two million Palestinians or control the territory beaten by the war, Trump declared Tuesday: “The United States will take over Gaza Strip and we will also do a job with him. Possess it.”
Rubio said that the idea “was not hostile”, describing it as a “generous movement: the offer to rebuild and be in charge of reconstruction.”
White House Secretary Karoline Leavitt later said Washington would not finance Gaza’s reconstruction after more than 15 months of war between the ally of the United States, Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.
The participation of the United States “does not mean boots in the field” or that “US taxpayers will finance this effort,” Leavitt said.
The United Nations warned of ethnic cleaning in Gaza.
“In its essence, the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people is about the right of the Palestinians to live simply as human beings in their own land,” said Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a speech to a UN Committee with the rights of the Palestinians.
Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric, providing the UN speech, told reporters: “Any forced displacement of people is equivalent to ethnic cleaning.”
Presidents Emmanuel Macron de France and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt said that any forced displacement of the Palestinians would be unacceptable.
“It would be a serious violation of international law, an obstacle to the solution of two states and a great destabilizing force for Egypt and Jordan,” the two leaders said.
Palestinian officials, Arab leaders and rights groups quickly condemned Trump’s comments.
Hamas, who took control of Gaza in 2007, rejected the proposal, marking it “racist”, “aggressive” and inflammatory.
Leavitt said Trump wanted the Palestinians to be only “temporarily transferred” from Gaza.
“It is a demolition site at this time. It is not a habitable place for any human being,” he said.
Israel’s military offensive in response to the October 2023 attack has left much of Gaza in ruins, including schools, hospitals and most civil infrastructure.
Rights Group Human Rights Watch said that the destruction of Gaza “reflects an Israeli policy calculated to make parts of the strip not without living.”
Trump’s proposed plan “would move the United States to be complicit in war crimes to the perpetration of atrocities,” said Lama Fakih, regional director of HRW.
‘We’ll remain’
Trump, who also suggested that he could visit Gaza, seemed to imply that he would not be rebuilt to the Palestinians.
But Leavitt later said he had been “very clear” that he expected Egypt, Jordan and others “to accept Palestinian refugees, temporarily, so that we can rebuild his home.”
Even before Tuesday’s explosive proposal, Trump had suggested that Gaza residents should move to Egypt and Jordan. The Palestinians, however, have promised to stay.
“They can do what they want, but we will remain firm in our homeland,” said Ahmed Halasa, a resident of Gaza, 41.
‘Victorious’
In Washington, Netanyahu praised Trump as Israel’s “best friend” and praised his “will to think out of the box.”
Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday night, he called Trump’s proposal “the first good idea I have heard.”
“It is a remarkable idea, and I think it should be really persecuted, examined, persecuted and done, because I think it will create a different future for everyone.”
But he also suggested that he did not mean Palestinians who leave the territory forever.
“They can leave, then they can return, they can relocate and return, but you have to rebuild Gaza,” he said.
Gaza’s War began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the death of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
The reprisal response of Israel has killed at least 47,518 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Ministry of Health of the Territory of Hamas. The United Nations considers reliable figures.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from a union feed).
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