Fuel on Fire

World leaders, Palestinian officials, and allies strongly condemned statements by US President Donald Trump this week that the United States should “take over” the Gaza Strip, remarks that observers said upend decades of US policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the BBC reported Wednesday.

Trump’s comments came during a Tuesday meeting between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, where he reiterated his plans to relocate around two million Palestinians from the enclave and transform it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected the plan, calling it a serious violation of international law, while reaffirming that Gaza remains an “integral part of the State of Palestine.”

Iran-backed Hamas – which has ruled Gaza since 2007 – warned the move would “put oil on the fire” and destabilize the region. Palestinian residents, already facing severe humanitarian conditions after months of war, also voiced opposition, with one telling the BBC they would rather “die in Gaza than leave it.”

Middle Eastern countries, including US allies Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, also rejected Trump’s proposal, CBS News wrote.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II emphasized his opposition to any land annexation or forced displacement of Palestinians, while Saudi Arabia reaffirmed that it would not normalize ties with Israel without an independent Palestinian state.

Egypt, which had already refused an earlier proposal to take in displaced Gazans, repeated its push for reconstruction without relocation.

Western allies and others also distanced themselves from the statements with French, British, Russian, and Chinese officials expressing support for a two-state solution.

Trump’s announcement comes amid ongoing negotiations for the second phase of a fragile ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that ended the 15-month-long conflict in Gaza.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas and its allies launched an attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.

Under the initial six-week ceasefire agreement, Hamas has so far released 18 Israeli hostages, including an American citizen, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The deal – in effect since Jan. 19 – is set to free a total of 33 hostages in its first phase, but fears have emerged that Trump’s remarks could complicate future exchanges. Hamas warned that any Israeli manipulation of the agreement could cause it to collapse.

Inside Israel, reactions to Trump’s statement were mixed.

Netanyahu praised the president’s “outside-the-box” thinking, while Israel’s far-right leaders openly embraced the proposal.

However, families of hostages still held in Gaza feared that the comments could disrupt the release of the remaining captives.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to military action in Gaza, insisting that Hamas must be eradicated before peace could be achieved.

At the White House, he said that “you can’t talk about peace … if this toxic, murderous organization is left standing,” the Financial Times reported. His renewed pledge to continue the war has raised fears about whether current ceasefire negotiations will hold.

Also on Wednesday Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the country had withdrawn from its observer status role on the UN’s Human Rights Council, the day after Trump reaffirmed the US’ withdrawal from the body and that funding for the Palestine-focused aid agency UNRWA would not resume.