U.S. president says he is looking at Gaza and seeing a demolition site ‘its a real mess’ adding that a removal of 1.5 million people to neighboring Arab nations would ‘clean up the whole mess’
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Jordan and Egypt should take more Palestinians from Gaza, Speaking to reporters on Air Force 1, when asked if this was a temporary or long-term suggestion, Trump said: “Could be either.”
Washington had said last year it opposed the forcible displacement of Palestinians. Rights groups and humanitarian agencies have for months raised concerns over the situation in Gaza. Washington has also faced criticism for backing Israel but has maintained support for its ally, saying it is helping Israel defend against Iran-backed militant groups like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
“I said to him I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess. I’d like him to take people,” Trump said about his call on Saturday with Jordan’s King Abdullah. “I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump told reporters, adding he would speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday. “You’re talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said.
Tents set up to house displaced Gazans in northern areas of the Strip
(Reuters)
“It’s literally a demolition site, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,” Trump said.
Trump said he would prefere other Arab nations to get in volved so that those peope “could live in peace for a change.”