Egypt and Jordan reject Trump’s suggestion that they take in more Palestinian refugees to “clean out Gaza”

Egypt and Jordan, along with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, have strongly dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Arab nations should absorb Palestinian refugees from Gaza. 

“You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday.

Jordan’s foreign minister responded swiftly emphasizing his nation’s “firm and unwavering opposition” to such a plan. Similarly, Egypt’s foreign ministry issued a statement cautioning that relocating Palestinians, even temporarily “risks expanding the conflict in the region and undermines prospects of peace and coexistence among its people.”

Israel has not officially responded to the idea but right-wing factions within its government have expressed support for the idea. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotric called Trump’s proposal a “great idea,”, according to the Associated Press. It aligns with his and other Israelis’ long-standing call to establish Jewish settlements in Gaza.

Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, condemned the proposal saying if it were implemented, it “would amount to an alarming escalation in the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and exponentially increase their suffering.”

Arab nations have historically resisted absorbing Palestinian refugees, both to safeguard their economies and security and to uphold the broader vision of a Palestinian state. They view such resettlement as counterproductive, potentially solidifying the displacement of Palestinians from their homeland.

Palestinians remain adamantly opposed to leaving their land, citing the precedent of the 1948 Nakba, during which approximately 700,000 Palestinians were displaced with the hope of eventual return. Many fear that agreeing to temporary relocation now could permanently erase their claims to their ancestral homes.