WASHINGTON/GAZA - US President Donald Trump, in an interview aired Monday, confirmed that under his proposed American takeover of the Gaza Strip and resettlement of its 2.2 million residents, displaced Gazans would not have the right to return to the enclave upon its reconstruction.
“We’ll build beautiful communities, safe communities — could be five, six, could be two — we’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, from where all of this danger is,” Trump said.
“And in the meantime, I would own this,” he told Fox News’ Bret Baier, in a clip from an interview whose first half aired prior to the Super Bowl, and whose second half will air in full Monday evening. “Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land”
“Would the Palestinians have the right to return?” Baier asked. “No, they wouldn’t,” Trump responded. “Be-cause they will have much better housing. I’m talking about building a permanent place for them,” the US president said. He then reasserted his confidence that he could “make a deal” with Egypt and Jordan, not-ing, “We give them billions and billions of dollars a year.”
The remarks echoed Trump’s comments to press on Air Force One on Sunday, when he said, “I think it’s a big mistake to allow people — the Palestinians, or the people living in Gaza — to go back yet another time.
“We’ll be building through other[s] of the very rich countries in the Middle East. They’ll be building some beautiful sites for the Palestinians to live in. They’ll be living in harmony and peace, probably for the first time in hundreds of years,” he insisted aboard the plane.
Asked on Sunday about reports that he will be meeting soon with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, Trump said, “I’ll be meeting with all of them numerous times,” but did not provide any further information.
Meanwhile, Hamas on Monday said the next hostage release scheduled to take place in Gaza on Saturday will be postponed, accusing Israel of breaking the ceasefire deal.
In a post on X, Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, said that the handover of the prisoners “who were scheduled to be released next Saturday… will be postponed until fur-ther notice, and until the occupation commits to and compensates for the entitlements of the past weeks retroactively.” He added: “We affirm our commitment to the terms of the agreement as long as the occupa-tion commits to them.”
In response to Hamas’ announcement, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he has instructed the coun-try’s military to “prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza.”
The minister described the postponement as a “complete violation of the ceasefire agreement and the deal to release the hostages.”
Hamas released three hostages on Saturday in the fourth hostage exchange since a ceasefire went into effect on January 19. There are still 79 people taken on October 7, 2023, left in Gaza. Only 20 of those are scheduled to come out during this current phase of the ceasefire, of whom eight are said to be dead.
In exchange, Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners, of whom 18 were serving life sentences. The major-ity had been detained in Gaza since October 7 and had no public charges against them.
Under an agreement signed in Qatar last month, negotiations to begin a second phase were supposed to begin on Monday.
Earlier Monday, the Hamas-run Gaza Government Media Office said Israel had refused to allow the entry of shelter supplies specified in the ceasefire agreement.
