Trump’s call on Arab nations to take more Gaza refugees welcomed

US President Donald Trump said that Arab nations should increase the number of Palestinian refugees they accept from the Gaza Strip, drawing praise on Sunday from extreme right-wing Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, during which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 abducted. The subsequent war in Gaza has left the coastal strip in ruins and created a humanitarian catastrophe.

Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump said the Gaza Strip was “literally a demolition site.”

“Almost everything is demolished and people are dying there so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,” he said.

“You’re talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts. And I don’t know, something has to happen,” Trump said.

He had spoken with Jordanian King Abdullah earlier in the day. Trump complimented Jordan on accepting Palestinian refugees and said he told 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’s call was welcomed by Israel’s finance minister. “After 76 years in which the majority of the population of Gaza was detained under hard conditions to maintain the aim of destroying Israel, the idea of helping them by finding other places where they could start a new and better life is outstanding,” Smotrich posted in Hebrew in a post on X on Sunday.

For years, politicians had put forward impracticable proposals, such as establishing a Palestinian state that would jeopardize Israel’s existence and security, Smotrich posted.

Only “unconventional thinking” on new approaches could bring peace and security, he said, pledging to work with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to implement Trump’s plan.

Smotrich has in the past backed Israeli resettlement of the Gaza Strip. Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, rejected this. A year ago, Smotrich said that, if Israeli acted correctly, Palestinians would emigrate.

Another far-right Israeli politician, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who resigned as national security minister last week, has also backed Trump’s proposal.

Trump plans to talk with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi later on Sunday.

The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry has recorded more than 47,000 deaths in Gaza since the beginning of the war. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and fighters.