German Chancellor Scholz rejects Trump's Gaza ‘takeover’ plan

BERLIN

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday firmly rejected US President Donald Trump’s plan to “take over” Gaza and resettle its Palestinian population in other countries of the region.

“I completely reject what President Trump has put on the table,” the Social Democrat said during a campaign stop ahead of the Feb. 23 elections. “The population of Gaza must not be resettled in Egypt and Jordan. This is not right,” he stressed.

Scholz stressed that efforts must focus on reducing current tensions and pursuing diplomatic solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to ensure peaceful coexistence between a future Palestinian state and Israel.

His comments came in response to Trump's statements during a Tuesday joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Trump said the Gazan population should be moved to countries like Jordan and Egypt, with the US developing the coastal enclave into what he called the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

The proposal drew sharp condemnation from Palestine and was flatly rejected by numerous countries worldwide, including China, Russia, Türkiye, Spain, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan.

Some said the proposal amounted to ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.

Trump’s ICC sanctions

Scholz also criticized Trump imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes in Gaza.

“I don't think it's right to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court,” Scholz said, adding that while some court decisions may cause disagreement, imposing sanctions is the wrong approach.

“They undermine an institution designed to prevent dictators of this world from persecuting people and launching wars,” he said.

Germany is a party to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, and has provided strong political support to the court’s mission and contributes significant annual funding to the court's budget.

Trump on Thursday signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the ICC, claiming the court was taking “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”

Last November The Hague court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. Israel has killed more than 47,000 people in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 and rendered it all but uninhabitable.