Israel launched preparations to oust up to 2 million Palestinians from Gaza as President Trump Thursday doubled down on his long-shot plan to “take over” and rebuild the war-ravaged coastal strip.
The Jewish state ordered officials to quickly create a plan for the departure of Palestinians from Gaza, just as many of them were hoping to return to their damaged or destroyed homes after more than a year of devastating war.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military could facilitate the emigration of large numbers of Palestinians from Gaza through normally closed land crossings as well as “special arrangements for exit by sea and air.”
The Israeli government’s nod to Trump’s plan came as the president refused to back down from the proposal that has attracted widespread skepticism and even derision from critics and allies alike.
Trump doubled down on the plan and said the U.S. would take control of Gaza from Israel and rebuild it in grand style, once it had been emptied of its Palestinian residents.
“The Palestinians … would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region,” Trump posted on his social media site. “They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free.”
He predicted the results would be a “spectacular development” at no financial or military cost to the U.S., although he didn’t explain how that would be possible.
“No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed!” Trump added. “Stability for the region would reign!!!”
Egypt, a strong U.S. ally in the region, Thursday came out firmly against the plan, which could require it to host some or all of the displaced Palestinians.
Cairo warned that an expulsion of Palestinians would destabilize the Mideast and undermine Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of stability and American influence for decades.
Saudi Arabia also trashed the idea of displacing Palestinians from Gaza, which would violate international law banning so-called ethnic cleansing.
Palestinians themselves, in Gaza, the West Bank and the diaspora, denounced the proposal. Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza, vowed to resist any expulsion push.
Trump’s surprise proposal, which he unveiled at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, initially called for “permanently” resettling Gaza’s population in unspecified other countries and for the U.S. to take charge of clearing debris and redeveloping Gaza as a “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Now he seems to be framing the emptying of Gaza as a temporary relocation of Palestinians, some of whom might be allowed to return to their homeland once the rebuilding is complete in a few years.
Trump, who has railed against so-called “forever wars” in the Middle East, also quickly ruled out using U.S. troops to oversee what would be a massive project in one of the most volatile places on earth.