A message that reaffirms his full support for Israel, US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would like to see Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they accept from the Gaza Strip, potentially removing a sufficient amount of the population to “simply empty” the war-ravaged area to start anew.
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Trump, who has built his political career being unconditionally pro-Israel, said during a 20-minute question and answer session with journalists aboard Air Force One on Saturday that he had a call that same day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and that he will speak on Sunday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
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"I would like Egypt to accept people," Trump emphasized. "We are talking about, probably, a million and a half people, and we simply clean all that up and say, 'You know, it's over'."
Trump said that he congratulated Jordan for accepting Palestinian refugees and told the king, "I would love for you to take in more, because I am looking into the whole situation. The Gaza Strip right now is a disaster. It's a real disaster."
What is Donald Trump's plan regarding Gaza?
The President of the United States said that such a massive transfer of Palestinians “could be temporary or long-term”, and added that the area of the world that includes Gaza, “for centuries” has “had many, many conflicts”.
"Something has to happen," Trump said. "But it's literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything is demolished, and people are dying there." He added: "So, I would prefer to engage with some of the Arab nations, and build homes in a different location, where they may be able to live in peace for a change."
So far, there have been no comments from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump has offered non-traditional views on the future of Gaza in the past. He suggested after his inauguration on Monday that Gaza “really has to be rebuilt in a different way.”
The new president then added, "Gaza is interesting. It's a phenomenal location, by the sea. The best weather, you know, everything is good. It's like, beautiful things could be done with it, but it's very interesting."
The United States will resume the shipment of large bombs to Israel.
In the conversation with journalists, Trump also said that he has ended the restriction imposed by his predecessor on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. This removes a point of pressure that aimed to reduce civilian casualties during Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, which is now halted due to a delicate ceasefire.
"We released them today," Trump said about the bombs. "They have been waiting for them for a long time." When asked why he lifted the ban on those bombs, Trump responded: "Because they bought them."
The resumption of the delivery of large bombs is a change from the approach of then-President Joe Biden, who halted their delivery in May as part of an effort to prevent Israel from launching a full assault on the southern city of Gaza, Rafah.
A month later, Israel took control of the city, but by then the vast majority of the 1 million civilians who had been living or seeking refuge in Rafah had fled.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a result of these bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN in May when he halted the weapons. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah... I am not supplying the weapons that historically have been used to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that issue.”