by Jerusalem Post Staff, Reuters
"I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza strip right now, and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess," Trump said.
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US President Donald Trump said that Jordan and Egypt should take more Palestinians from Gaza when he spoke to reporters on Saturday.
Trump said he spoke about the matter with Jordan's King Abdullah on the phone earlier in the day and told him that the Gaza Strip is currently a "real mess."
He said that he told King Abdullah during the call, "I’d love you [Jordan] to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza strip right now, and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess. I’d like him to take people."
"I’d like Egypt to take people," Trump also said to the reporter. He added that he planned on speaking to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.
The phone call with King Abdullah came on the same day that the second prisoner-hostage exchange took place, in which four female Israeli soldiers were returned to Israel after spending 477 days in Hamas captivity.
Delegation of 70 prisoners arrive in Cario, Israeli ministers respond
In exchange, 114 Palestinian prisoners were released from Ofer Prison and were brought to Ramallah, 16 were taken to Gaza, and 70 were deported to Egypt.
The 70 Palestinian prisoners that were released to Egypt arrived in Cairo during the early hours of Sunday morning, where they were received by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad delegations, Hamas and Al Araby reported.
Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Otzma Yehudit head Itamar Ben-Gvir both reacted strongly to Trump's proposal.
"After 76 years in which most of Gaza's population has been forcibly held in harsh conditions to maintain the aspiration of destroying the State of Israel, the idea of helping them find other places to start new and better lives is a wonderful idea. After years of glorifying terrorism, they will be able to build new and good lives elsewhere," Smotrich said in a statement.
He added, "For years, statesmen have proposed impractical solutions such as dividing the land and establishing a Palestinian state, which has endangered the existence and security of the world’s only Jewish state, resulting only in bloodshed and suffering for many people. Only out-of-the-box thinking and new solutions will lead to a resolution of peace and security. With God's help, I will work with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to formulate an operational plan to implement this as soon as possible."
Ben-Gvir also added, "I commend US President Trump for his initiative
to relocate residents of Gaza to Jordan and Egypt. One of our demands
from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to promote voluntary
emigration, and when the president of the world's greatest superpower,
Trump, raises this idea himself, the Israeli government should implement
it—promote emigration now!"
Jerusalem Post Staff, Reuters
Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-839236
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