Trump suggests Arab states could take in Gazans
'I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change'
US President Donald Trump suggested that Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states take in more Gazans on Sunday night.
Speaking to reports aboard Air Force One, he said he spoke to Jordan's King Abdullah II, telling the King: "I'd love for you to take on more, cause I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess."
Trump praised Jordan for successfully absorbing Palestinian refugees in the past.
"I'd like Egypt to take people," Trump told reporters. "You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, 'You know, it's over.'"
The region has "had many, many conflicts," Trump said, suggesting that Gazans' resettlement "could be temporary or long term," while calling Gaza "literally a demolition site right now."
"Something has to happen," he said. "Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there. So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change."
Trump also lifted the Biden administration's ban on 2,000 pound bombs to Israel that the former president imposed as Israel launched an operation to take control of Gaza's southern city of Rafah last May.
When asked by reporters why he removed the ban on the shipments, Trump said, "Because they bought them."