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President Trump said he had spoken to Jordan’s leader and planned to call Egypt’s. Mr. Trump’s suggestion echoes proposals from far-right Israelis. A Hamas official rejected the idea.
- Jan. 26, 2025, 9:13 a.m. ET
A suggestion by President Trump to “clean out” the Gaza Strip and ask Egypt and Jordan to take in more Palestinians raised new questions on Sunday about United States policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and two of its most important allies in the Middle East.
Mr. Trump’s comments appeared to echo the wishes of the Israeli far right that Palestinians be encouraged to leave Gaza — an idea that goes to the heart of Palestinian fears that they will be driven from their remaining homelands.
“You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Mr. Trump said of Gaza on Saturday. “I don’t know. Something has to happen, but it’s literally a demolition site right now.”
Mr. Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he had spoken to King Abdullah II of Jordan about the issue, saying, “I said to him, ‘I’d love for you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess.’” He added that he would also like Egypt to take in more Palestinians and that he would speak to the country’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, about the issue.
He said that Palestinians could be in Jordan and Egypt “temporarily, or could be long-term.”
It was unclear from Mr. Trump’s comments if he was suggesting that all of the people in Gaza leave. The enclave has a population of about two million.
The suggestion by Mr. Trump was rejected on Sunday by Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza.
“The Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip have endured death and destruction over 15 months in one of humanity’s greatest crimes of the 21st century, simply to stay on their land and homeland,” said Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, referring to the war that started with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. “Therefore, they will not accept any proposals or solutions, even if seemingly well-intentioned under the guise of reconstruction, as proposed by U.S. President Trump.”
