Trump ruled out returning refugees as part of his Gaza reconstruction plan
US President Donald Trump said that his plan to rebuild housing in the Gaza Strip does not imply that refugees will be able to return to their homeland. He made this statement on February 9 in an interview with Fox News TV channel.
"No, they will not do that (not return to Gaza. - Ed.) because they will have much better housing. <...> In other words, I'm talking about building a permanent place of residence for them," the American leader said.
He specified that it will take years before it will be possible to live in Gaza again. At the same time, Trump again recalled the alleged possibility of making a deal to resettle Palestinians with Egypt and Jordan, which have repeatedly spoken out against the idea.
Back in late January, Trump announced the possibility of resettling refugees from the Gaza Strip in Egypt and Jordan. The proposal involves the potential relocation of up to 1.5 million people, he specified. In this way, they would be guaranteed safety, he said. Later, on February 5, during a press conference, he announced Washington's plans to take control of Gaza.
On the same day, The Wall Street Journal learned about Trump's conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the summer of 2024, during which the American leader said it was possible to create "prime real estate" in Gaza.
Egypt or Jordan have repeatedly rejected the idea of accepting large numbers of Palestinian refugees. Palestinian Ambassador to Russian Federation Abdel Hafiz Nofal said the Palestinian side opposes the US president's proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Arab countries. Iran called Trump's proposal ethnic cleansing. Also the US president's initiative was criticized by Qatar and Turkey.
The ceasefire regime in the Gaza Strip began to operate in the morning of January 19. At the same time, the Palestinian movement Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The next day, Israel released the first 90 Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal. Hostage exchanges continue.
The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.
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