Ethnic cleansing feared as Trump asks Jordan, Egypt to take Gaza residents

Former US President Donald Trump stated that he wants to "clean up" the Gaza Strip and urged Egypt and Jordan to take in more Palestinians from the coastal enclave. Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he had spoken to Jordan's King Abdullah II earlier that day and planned to speak with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi later on Sunday.

“I would like to have Egypt take these people. You're talking about maybe a million and a half people, and we can clean up the whole thing and say, ‘you know, this is over,’” Trump said. He also praised Jordan for its successful reception of Palestinian refugees and told the king, “I would like you to take more because I see the whole Gaza Strip now, it’s a mess, it’s a total mess.” Trump suggested that Gaza residents could be moved “temporarily or permanently.”

Trump further noted, "It's just a disaster there now, almost everything is destroyed, and people are dying there. So, I would rather work with some of the Arab countries and build housing in different places, and let them maybe move and have a peaceful life." The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) condemned the US president's suggestion, calling it an encouragement of “war crimes.” The group deemed Trump’s idea “pathetic” and said his “proposal falls under the category of encouraging war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land.”

PIJ also stated that Trump’s remarks “fall in line with the worst agendas of the extreme Zionist right and perpetuate the policy of denying the existence, will, and rights of the Palestinian people,” and called on Egypt and Jordan to reject his plan. Abdullah Arian, an associate professor of history at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera that the US president’s comments “should be taken seriously, partly because we’ve seen this specific demand being put forward in the last year and a half.”

Arian stated that Israeli officials “early on in the war” expressed the desire to “ethnically cleanse” as much of Palestinian territory as possible. He also mentioned, “One of the reasons that plan failed is that the Arab leaders that were approached at the time simply refused to take additional Palestinian refugee populations, partly because it’s politically unviable, especially in Egypt, which is seen as the likely destination for a mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.” Arian believes that Palestinians themselves would not be interested in Trump’s proposal. “They’re very aware of what leaving their homes means, and what the situation of Palestinian refugees has been for the last 70 years.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich welcomed Trump’s idea of moving Gaza residents to Egypt and Jordan. “The idea of helping them find other places to start better lives is a great one. After years of glorifying terrorism, they will be able to build new and good lives in other places,” Smotrich said in a statement. “Only by thinking outside the box and offering new solutions will we be able to bring solutions for peace and security,” he added. “With God’s help, I will work with the prime minister and the cabinet to ensure that this action plan is implemented as soon as possible.”

For Palestinians, any attempt to move them out of Gaza would evoke dark memories of what they call the “Nakba,” or catastrophe – the mass displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948. Egypt has previously warned against “forced displacement” of Palestinians from Gaza into the Sinai desert, with Sisi saying it could jeopardize Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel. According to the UN, Jordan already hosts around 2.3 million registered Palestinian refugees.

Israel’s 15-month-long war on the Palestinian enclave has led to the deaths of more than 47,000 people, though residents and activists say the real death toll is likely higher. Relentless bombing has also left much of the territory in ruins, with the UN estimating that reconstruction will take years. However, Trump also stated that he had ended his predecessor's restrictions on sending 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) bombs to Israel. “We released them today,” Trump said of the bombs. “They’ve been waiting for them for a long time.”

When asked why he lifted the ban on the bombs, Trump responded, “Because they bought them.” Former President Joe Biden had paused the delivery of the bombs over concerns about their potential impact on civilians. According to the Defense Alternative Project (PDA), a 2,000-pound bomb has a destruction radius of 35 meters (115 feet). The US has provided significant foreign aid to Israel throughout its history; according to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the total was $297 billion (adjusted for inflation) between 1946 and 2023, with $216 billion in military aid and $81 billion in economic aid. Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of US aid since its founding. A ceasefire agreement in Gaza went into effect a week ago and led to the release of some Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.