Trump likes his Gaza plan, but will 'sit back' as Arab states draft proposal
US President Donald Trump said he is going to “sit back” and watch Arab countries craft a counter-proposal to his plan for the US to "take over" the Gaza Strip and forcibly displace two million Palestinians.
Trump’s rhetoric suggests he relishes watching the US’s Arab allies rush to counter his plan.
He said for the first time on Friday that he would not force anyone to accept Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, but still thought it was a good idea.
“I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it, and then the US would own the site,” he told Fox News Radio, adding, "Another way to do it is with people there, but I don't think it would work. I like my plan."
Trump’s plan for a US takeover of the Gaza Strip was widely rejected by Arab states, human rights experts, and even Trump's closest political allies.
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Jordan and Egypt are worried that Trump could cut off billions of dollars worth of aid to force them to accept Palestinian refugees.
Trump’s comments suggest they have dodged that outcome, for now.
A senior Egyptian official told Middle East Eye that King Abdullah II of Jordan had told Trump in private that his plan would provoke “Islamic extremism” and lead to the collapse of pro-US governments across the region.
Trump came across as "attentive and sympathetic” in the private meeting, the official briefed on the talks told MEE. That gave Egypt the confidence it needed to take its post-war Gaza plan forward.
Riyadh meeting
The leaders of Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt all gathered in Riyadh on Friday to discuss the Egyptian proposal ahead of an Arab League meeting next month.
The plan envisions Palestinians living in temporary housing inside the Gaza Strip until it is rebuilt, a government led by local technocrats from Gaza, and a security force made up of Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas.
The Egyptian official who spoke with MEE said Cairo was trying to prevent a repeat of the end of Lebanon’s civil war, where a Lebanese government was formed but Hezbollah retained its arms.
Hamas has said it is prepared to give up civil governance but has been less clear whether it will cede security control. One early concession it has made is allowing private American and Egyptian military contractors to operate in the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza. There have been no reports of fighting there.
In the handover of captives, Hamas has demonstrated that it maintained its military and organisational framework after 15 months of war. Palestinian fighters with Hamas are moving freely in the Gaza Strip, cradling small arms and effectively managing crowds.
Before addressing internal security, Arab states will be watching to see if Israel resumes its war on the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu wants to resume war, Trump says
On Thursday, Israel accused Hamas of giving them the “anonymous and unidentified” body of a person instead of that of Israeli captive Shiri Bibas.
Hamas struck a cautious tone in response. Bassem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said “unfortunate mistakes” could occur and that the group was investigating the handover.
"We confirm that it is not in our values or our interest to keep any bodies or not to abide by the covenants and agreements that we sign,” he said in a statement.
However, Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said they handed over the remains of Shiri Bibas to the Red Cross on Friday. Israel said on X it was investigating these reports.
Israel already had lashed out at Hamas over the way Hamas handed over the corpses of Shiri Bibas’s two sons, a four-year-old and a nine-month-old.
Israel launched its ferocious assault on Gaza after the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel. The offensive has killed at least 48,319 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children. Thousands are presumed dead under the rubble.
Trump told Fox News that Netanyahu wanted to resume the war, citing the handover. “He is not torn. He wants to go in. He is just so angry at what happened yesterday, and he should be,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu.
Trump suggested in the interview that he didn’t care whether Israel resumed the war or went into phase II ceasefire talks on a political solution.
“Sometimes you have to make a decision. It's a rough decision,” he said.
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