Published On 5 Feb 20255 Feb 2025
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Updated:
7 minutes ago
United States President Donald Trump has unveiled his shocking plan to take over the Gaza Strip after Palestinians are forcibly moved out of the besieged enclave, spurring fears he would back an ethnic cleansing campaign.
During a news conference with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump suggested Palestinians would “love to leave” Gaza, saying he foresees long-term US ownership of the Strip while it’s being rebuilt, claiming to bring jobs and economic prosperity to the area.
Trump’s comments drew sharp responses in the US and abroad. Here are some key reactions from around the world:
Hamas
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the call for Palestinians in Gaza to be ethnically cleansed was an “expulsion from their land”.
“Trump’s remarks about his desire to control Gaza are ridiculous and absurd, and any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region,” Abu Zuhri said. “We consider them [the plan] a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass.”
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Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanou said “the American racist stance aligns with the Israeli extreme right’s position in displacing our people and eliminating our cause.”
Palestine Liberation Organisation
Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said the PLO rejects all calls for the displacement of the Palestinian people from their homeland.
“The Palestinian leadership affirms its firm position that the two-state solution, in accordance with international legitimacy and international law, is the guarantee of security, stability and peace,” he said on X.
Saudi Arabia
While Trump claimed that Riyadh was not demanding a Palestinian homeland, Saudi Arabia said it would not normalise ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
The foreign ministry said it rejected any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land and described its stance as “clear and explicit” as well as not negotiable.
“Saudi Arabia also reiterates its previously announced unequivocal rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, the annexation of Palestinian lands, or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land,” it said.
US Senator Chris Murphy
“He’s totally lost it,” Murphy, a Democrat, said on X. “A US invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of US troops and decades of war in the Middle East. It’s like a bad, sick joke.”
US Senator Chris Van Hollen
“Trump’s proposal to push two million Palestinians out of Gaza and take ‘ownership’ by force, if necessary, is simply ethnic cleansing by another name,” Van Hollen, a Democrat, said.
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“This declaration will give ammunition to Iran and other adversaries while undermining our Arab partners in the region.”
Van Hollen said Trump’s proposal “defies decades of bipartisan American support for a two-state solution… Congress must stand up to this dangerous and reckless scheme.”
CAIR, a US Muslim advocacy group
“Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people, not the United States, and President Trump’s call to expel Palestinians from their land is an absolute non-starter,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations said.
“If the Palestinian people were ever somehow forcibly expelled from Gaza, this crime against humanity would spark widespread conflict, put the final nail in the coffin of international law, and destroy what remains of our nation’s international image and standing.”
Russia
“There are Israeli plans to take full control of the occupied West Bank and attempts to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that “practicing a policy of collective punishment is a method that Russia rejects”.
China
China’s foreign ministry said it opposes the forced transfer of the people of Gaza and hopes all parties will take ceasefire and post-conflict governance as an opportunity to bring the Palestinian issue back to a political settlement based on the two-state solution.
Australia
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government continues to support a two-state solution “where both Israelis and Palestinians could live in peace and security”.
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“We’ve supported a ceasefire, we’ve supported hostages being released and we’ve supported aid getting into Gaza,” he said.
However, he refused to directly comment on Trump’s speech, saying: “I’m not going to have a running commentary on statements by the president of the United States.”
Amnesty International
Paul O’Brien, executive director at Amnesty International US, said removing all Palestinians from Gaza was “tantamount to destroying them as a people”.
“Gaza is their home. Gaza’s death and destruction is a result of the government of Israel killing civilians by the thousands, often with US bombs,” he said.
