President Donald Trump suggested hundreds of thousands of Palestinians should leave Gaza in order to “just clean out” the coastal enclave, stating they could be displaced to neighboring Egypt and Jordan “temporarily” or for the “long term.” Aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump told reporters he has encouraged Jordan’s Abdullah II, a US ally, to “take on more” Palestinian refugees. Trump likened Gaza, ravaged by 15 months of war, to “a demolition site,” adding, “I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change.” Trump’s remarks could be seen as breaking with the US’ long-held support for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. In an apparent rebuff of Trump, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Sunday that his country’s “rejection of displacement is fixed and unchangeable” and called a two-state solution “the way to achieve peace.” Trump also said he ordered the resumption of shipments of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, which the Biden administration paused over concerns about civilian deaths. Israel’s bombing and offensive in Gaza, which commenced after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, displaced nearly the entire 2.3 million people who live there, killing over 46,000, more than half of them women, children or the elderly. The first stage of a ceasefire agreement came into effect on January 19, with both parties now in negotiations for a more permanent truce.
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