United States President Donald Trump has unveiled his shocking plan to take over the Gaza Strip after Palestinians are forcibly moved out of the besieged enclave, spurring fears he would back an ethnic cleansing campaign.
During a news conference with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump suggested Palestinians would “love to leave” Gaza, saying he foresees long-term US ownership of the Strip while it’s being rebuilt, claiming to bring jobs and economic prosperity to the area.
Trump’s comments drew sharp responses in the US and abroad. Here are some key reactions from around the world:
Hamas
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the call for Palestinians in Gaza to be ethnically cleansed was an “expulsion from their land”.
“Trump’s remarks about his desire to control Gaza are ridiculous and absurd, and any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region,” Abu Zuhri said. “We consider them [the plan] a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass.”
Another senior Hamas official, Izzat el-Reshiq, said the proposal “will only put oil on fire”.
“These statements reflect confusion and deep ignorance about Palestine and the region. Gaza is certainly not a common land and it is not a property that can be bought and sold. American bias towards Israel and against our Palestinian people and against their just rights continues,” he said.
Palestine Liberation Organisation
Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said the PLO rejects all calls for the displacement of the Palestinian people from their homeland.
“The Palestinian leadership affirms its firm position that the two-state solution, in accordance with international legitimacy and international law, is the guarantee of security, stability and peace,” he said on X.
Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas strongly rejected any plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza, saying “we will not allow any infringement of the rights of our people, which we have struggled for decades and made great sacrifices to achieve”.
“These calls represent a serious violation of international law,” he said. “Peace and stability will not be achieved in the region without establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of 1967, based on the two-state solution.”
Palestinian Islamic Jihad
“Trump’s positions and plans are a dangerous escalation that threaten Arab and regional national security, especially in Egypt and Jordan, which the US administration wants to put in confrontation with the Palestinian people and their rights,” PIJ said.
Palestine’s UN envoy
Riyad Mansour, the leader of the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations, said Palestinians in Gaza should be allowed to reclaim what were once their homes in Israel.
“For those who want to send the Palestinian people to a ‘nice place’, allow them to go back to their original homes in what is now Israel,” he said, using Trump’s language. “The Palestinian people want to rebuild Gaza because this is where we belong.”
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia said it would not normalise ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
The foreign ministry said it rejected any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land and described its stance as “clear and explicit” as well as not negotiable.
“Saudi Arabia also reiterates its previously announced unequivocal rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, the annexation of Palestinian lands, or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land,” it said.
US Senator Chris Murphy
“He’s totally lost it,” Murphy, a Democrat, said on X. “A US invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of US troops and decades of war in the Middle East. It’s like a bad, sick joke.”
US Senator Chris Van Hollen
“Trump’s proposal to push two million Palestinians out of Gaza and take ‘ownership’ by force, if necessary, is simply ethnic cleansing by another name,” Van Hollen, a Democrat, said. “This declaration will give ammunition to Iran and other adversaries while undermining our Arab partners in the region.”
Van Hollen said Trump’s proposal “defies decades of bipartisan American support for a two-state solution… Congress must stand up to this dangerous and reckless scheme.”
CAIR, a US Muslim advocacy group
“Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people, not the United States, and President Trump’s call to expel Palestinians from their land is an absolute non-starter,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations said.
“If the Palestinian people were ever somehow forcibly expelled from Gaza, this crime against humanity would spark widespread conflict, put the final nail in the coffin of international law, and destroy what remains of our nation’s international image and standing.”
Russia
“There are Israeli plans to take full control of the occupied West Bank and attempts to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that “practicing a policy of collective punishment is a method that Russia rejects”.
China
China’s foreign ministry said it opposes the forced transfer of the people of Gaza and hopes all parties will take ceasefire and post-conflict governance as an opportunity to bring the Palestinian issue back to a political settlement based on the two-state solution.
Turkiye
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Trump’s comments were “unacceptable” and warned that leaving Palestinians “out of the equation” would lead to more conflict.
Fidan said Turkiye would review the steps it had taken against Israel – cutting off trade and recalling its ambassador – if the killing of Palestinians stopped and their conditions changed.
France
“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 destabilising factor for our close partners Egypt and Jordan as well as for the entire region,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said in a statement.
Lemoine added that the future of Gaza should be in the context of a future Palestinian state and should not be controlled by a third country.
United Kingdom
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy said Palestinians have a future in their homeland.
“We’ve always been clear in our belief that we must see two states. We must see Palestinians live and prosper in their homelands in Gaza and the West Bank,” he told a news conference during a trip to Kyiv.
Brazil
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Trump’s proposal “makes no sense”.
“Where would Palestinians live? This is something incomprehensible to any human being,” Lula said. “Palestinians are the ones who need to take care of Gaza.”
Australia
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government continues to support a two-state solution “where both Israelis and Palestinians could live in peace and security”.
“We’ve supported a ceasefire, we’ve supported hostages being released and we’ve supported aid getting into Gaza,” he said.
However, he refused to directly comment on Trump’s speech, saying: “I’m not going to have a running commentary on statements by the president of the United States.”
UN special rapporteur
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, said Trump’s plan was “unlawful, immoral and completely irresponsible”.
“What he proposes is… nonsense,” Albanese said at a news conference in Denmark’s capital Copenhagen. “It will make the regional crisis even worse. It’s incitement to commit forced displacement, which is an international crime. The international community is made up of 193 states and this is the time to give the US what it has been looking for: Isolation.”
Amnesty International
Paul O’Brien, executive director at Amnesty International US, said removing all Palestinians from Gaza was “tantamount to destroying them as a people”.
“Gaza is their home. Gaza’s death and destruction is a result of the government of Israel killing civilians by the thousands, often with US bombs,” he said.
