Iyad Nabolsi and Qais Abu Samra
12 February 2025•Update: 12 February 2025
GAZA CITY/RAMALLAH, Palestine
Palestinian resistance group Hamas hailed Jordan and Egypt on Wednesday for rejecting the forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
“We praise the position of our brothers in Jordan and Egypt, who reject the displacement of our people, and confirm that there is an Arab plan to rebuild Gaza without displacing its people,” Hamas said in a statement.
It called Jordan’s stance “an extension of its long-standing opposition to displacement, resettlement, and alternative homeland projects aimed at erasing Palestinian identity and undermining its just cause.”
Jordan and Egypt are facing mounting US pressure to take in Palestinians after President Donald Trump called for seizing control of Gaza and relocating Palestinians, an idea vehemently rejected by Palestinians and Arab leaders.
While hosting King Abdullah II at the White House, Trump said on Tuesday that he would "take" the Gaza Strip under US authority and redevelop it with hotels, office buildings, and other infrastructure.
Jordanian Prime Minister Jafar Hassan reiterated his country's rejection on Wednesday of any plan to displace or resettle the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Egypt also said on Tuesday that it has a “comprehensive” proposal to rebuild Gaza without relocating its population.
“We also value the positions of Arab countries and the global community that have expressed their rejection of any plans aimed at displacing our people or stripping them of their national rights,” Hamas said.
“Our people remain steadfast on their land and will not accept any solutions that diminish their legitimate rights to freedom and independence,” it stressed.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, for his part, hailed the Jordanian king for his firm stance against the forced displacement of Palestinians.
According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, Abbas called King Abdullah’s position “an extension of Jordan’s long-standing support for Palestinian national rights.”
Israel has turned Gaza into the world’s largest open-air prison, maintaining an 18-year blockade and forcing nearly 2 million of its 2.3 million residents into displacement amid dire shortages of food, water, and medicine due to deliberate restrictions.
Trump’s proposal to displace Palestinians came amid the ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement that took hold in Gaza on Jan. 19, pausing Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed more than 48,200 people and left the enclave in ruins.
For decades, Israel has occupied lands in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, and refuses to withdraw from the territories and to establish an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
