Israel welcomes Trump's plan for U.S. to "take over" Gaza, as allies and adversaries reject it
Allies and adversaries of the United States reacted with shock and disapproval Wednesday to President Trump's announcement of plans for the United States to "take over" the Gaza Strip.
In a social media post early Thursday, Mr. Trump said Gaza, "would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting," after Palestinians had "already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region."
Mr. Trump's suggestion that the Palestinian territory — part of the land that many people hope will eventually become an independent Palestinian state — be redeveloped into a "Riviera of the Middle East," owned by the U.S., and with its residents being "resettled" elsewhere, has sent diplomatic shockwaves around the world.
"In the search for solutions on Gaza, we must not make the problem worse," United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said. "It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing."
White House offers new explanation as Israel welcomes "bold plan"
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was standing alongside Mr. Trump for a joint news conference when he made his announcement Tuesday, praised the U.S. leader, but did not explicitly endorse his Gaza plan.
Netanyahu reiterated that one of Israel's objectives has been "to make sure that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again." He then said: "President Trump is taking it to a much higher level. He sees a different future for that piece of land that has been the focus of so much terrorism, so many attacks against us, so many trials and so many tribulations. He has a different idea, and I think it's worth paying attention to this. We're talking about it. He's exploring it with his people, with his staff. I think it's something that could change history and it's worthwhile really pursuing this avenue."
On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt seemed to walk back Mr. Trump's statements, telling journalists that Mr. Trump believes Palestinians "need to be temporarily relocated out of Gaza for the rebuilding" of the enclave.
Mr. Trump, asked the previous day whether Gaza's inhabitants would be allowed to return to the enclave if they did leave under his plan, said: "I don't think people should be going back to Gaza," asking,"Why would they want to return? The place has been hell."
Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday "welcomed Mr. Trump's bold plan."
"I instructed the IDF to prepare a plan that will allow any resident of Gaza who is interested to leave to any place in the world that agrees to accept them," Katz said in a statement. "The plan will include options for exit at land crossings as well as special arrangements for exit by sea and air."
Palestinians and Israeli hostage families react to Trump's plan
Mr. Trump's announcement drew immediate condemnation from Palestinian civilians and from Hamas, which warned it could threaten the fragile Gaza ceasefire agreement. It also worried some Israeli hostage family members.
"We came very close to dying, but we survived with the grace of God," Gaza resident Moeen Mohsen told CBS News' team in Gaza City. "Unfortunately, there came a decision to displace us. We reject it in its entirety. We are still holding on to our right to live."
"We will not allow prejudice to the rights of our people, which we have struggled for many decades and made great sacrifices to achieve," the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, was quoted as saying by the Palestinian news agency Wafa. The PA has limited authority over the other, larger Palestinian territory, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which is run separately from Gaza.
"These calls represent a serious violation of international law, and peace and stability in the region will not be achieved without the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," Abbas said.
Negotiations have begun over the terms of the second phase of the ceasefire deal, which has seen 18 hostages released by Hamas and other militants in Gaza since it came into effect on January 19, including one man who is an American citizen.
In the current, six-week first phase of the deal, Hamas is to free more hostages every week in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being released from Israeli jails.
If the deal holds, the hostage and prisoner exchanges will continue, with a total of 33 Israeli captives set to be released during the first phase. If the agreement falls apart, those releases could come to an end, and that prospect has worried some family members of those still held hostage in Gaza.
"We are shocked. We didn't know about it, but it was clearly not a move pulled from the hip," Ronen Neutra, the father of Israeli soldier Omer Neutra, who was killed in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack that sparked the war and whose body is still being held in Gaza, told the Israeli news outlet Ynet about the plan on Wednesday.
"We want to remind Trump and Netanyahu that human lives are at stake, and we need to return them as a top priority, and only after that if we want to make changes," Neutra said.
Hamas condemned Mr. Trump's plan, calling it "a crime against humanity, and a reinforcement of the law of the jungle at the international level."
The U.S.- and Israeli-designated terrorist group said it was demanding "urgent regional and international action to put an end to these malicious plans, because any attempts to implement such plans will destabilize security in the region and beyond."
"We demand that the mediators, especially the United States, oblige the occupation [Israel] to implement the ceasefire agreement in its three stages without procrastination or manipulation, as we are committed to implementing the agreement as long as the occupation commits to it, and any manipulation in implementing the agreement may cause it to collapse," senior Hamas political official Basem Naim said in a statement.
America's partners in the Middle East reject Trump's Gaza plan
Regional powers, including American allies that had already rejected earlier suggestions by Mr. Trump that the more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza be relocated to other countries, also spoke out against the plans the U.S. president iterated on Tuesday.
Egypt's foreign ministry stressed the importance of a two-state solution to create a Palestinian nation.
Jordan's royal court put out a statement as the country's King Abdullah II met with Mahmoud Abbas of the PA on Wednesday.
"His Majesty King Abdullah II stresses the need to put a stop to [Israeli] settlement expansion, expressing rejection of any attempts to annex land and displace the Palestinians," the statement said.
Saudi Arabia quickly said it would not reestablish ties with Israel — a bilateral relationship that Mr. Trump has long hoped to foster — without the creation of a Palestinian state.
"Saudi Arabia rejects any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land," Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday. "Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has affirmed the kingdom's position in 'a clear and explicit manner' that does not allow for any interpretation under any circumstances."
Reaction to Trump's Gaza plans from around the world
Countries outside the Middle East also reacted swiftly to Mr. Trump's proposal.
"France reiterates its opposition to any forced displacement of the Palestinian population of Gaza, which would constitute a serious violation of international law, an attack on the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians, but also a major obstacle to the two-state solution and a major destabilizing factor for our close partners Egypt and Jordan as well as for the entire region," French foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine said in a statement Wednesday.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated Britain's support for a two-state solution when asked about Mr. Trump's plan during a parliamentary session Wednesday.
Palestinians in Gaza "must be allowed home. They must be allowed to rebuild, and we should be with them in that rebuild on the way to a two-state solution," Starmer told Britain's House of Commons.
Russia and China also both released statements Wednesday supporting a two-state solution.
Israel's current government — its most far-right, nationalist leadership in decades — and Netanyahu himself, have made it clear they are not interested in working toward a two-state solution.
Dr. Sanam Vakil, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the British Chatham House think tank, said Mr. Trump's "provocative" comments "could be trying to disrupt conventional thinking on a longstanding conflict that has yet to be resolved or produce viable solutions."
"He equally wants to show continued commitment to Israel to placate supporters and high-level donors in the United States and shore up Netanyahu's fragile political balance of power to help the prime minister engage in phase two ceasefire negotiations," Vakils said. "More broadly, this is also part of his extreme deal-making strategy that will lay the ground for broader Israeli-Saudi normalization talks. He could be using this to pave the way to promote Saudi normalization in exchange for no annexation."
Vakil said there was a risk that Mr. Trump's statements could, in the near term, lead to a delay in the release of further Israeli hostages in the current phase of the ceasefire.
