“It’s an enormous undertaking,” he said. “It’s a unique offer … But I think it’s one people need to think about seriously. It was not meant as a hostile move. It was meant as, I think, a very generous move.”
Rubio said people – referring to up to 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza – would obviously have to live elsewhere while the land was cleared and rebuilt, but at the end they would be able to “move back in”.
His characterisation of the plan was closer to that advanced by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday, who said Palestinians would be “temporarily relocated” elsewhere rather than permanently moved, as Trump had suggested alongside Netanyahu on Tuesday.
Donald Trump called Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer a “Palestinian”, even though Schumer is an American Jew. Credit: Bloomberg
However, the proposal has been criticised as ethnic cleansing, and would enact a long-held goal of Israel’s hard right to expel Palestinians from Gaza.
The golden pager gift from Benjamin Netanyahu to Donald Trump.
Former Israeli national security minister Ben Gvir said encouraging Gazans to emigrate was “the only solution to the Gaza problem … the strategy for the ‘day after’.”
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the Israeli Defence Force to prepare plans “that will allow any resident of Gaza who wishes to leave to do so”. Options would include land crossings and special air or sea departures, he said.
“Countries such as Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others, which have falsely accused Israel over its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow Gazans to enter their territory. Their hypocrisy will be exposed if they refuse,” Katz said in a statement posted on X.
“Countries like Canada, which has a structured immigration program, have previously expressed willingness to take in residents from Gaza. The people of Gaza should have the right to freedom of movement and migration, as is customary everywhere in the world.”
The Times of Israel reported Katz convened a meeting of senior defence officials on Thursday evening, local time, to discuss the plans.
Meanwhile, Egypt has launched a diplomatic blitz behind the scenes against Trump’s extraordinary proposal, warning it would put its peace deal with Israel at risk.
One Egyptian official told AP the message had been delivered to the Pentagon, the State Department and members of the US Congress.
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians is set up next to destroyed buildings in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip.Credit: AP
During Netanyahu’s multi-day visit to Washington, which included a meeting with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon, the Israeli leader gifted Trump a golden pager – a reference to the September 2024 detonation of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon and Syria.
The gift “symbolises the prime minister’s decision that led to a turning point in the war”, Netanyahu’s office told Israeli media.
with AP
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