United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told President Donald Trump on Wednesday to avoid ethnic cleansing in Gaza after the US leader proposed that Palestinians resettle elsewhere and the US take over the war-torn enclave.
US President Donald Trump had offered for the US to be responsible for the reconstruction of Gaza, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday.
Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday praised Trump’s proposal for the US to take over the war-torn Gaza Strip and said House Republicans would stand with Trump on his initiative.
UN chief warns Trump against ethnic cleansing in Gaza
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told President Donald Trump on Wednesday to avoid ethnic cleansing in Gaza after the US leader proposed that Palestinians resettle elsewhere and the US take over the war-torn enclave.
“In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse. It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing,” Guterres told a previously planned meeting of a UN committee.
“We must reaffirm the two-state solution,” he said.
While Guterres did not mention Trump or his Gaza proposal during his address to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters earlier that it would be a “fair assumption” to view Guterres’ remarks as a response.
Earlier on Wednesday Guterres spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah about the situation in the region, said Dujarric.
Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour, appointed by the Palestinian Authority, told the committee that Abdullah would deliver a coordinated message to Trump from Arab states when he visits Washington next week.
“We have no country except Palestine. Gaza is a precious part of it. We are not going to leave Gaza,” said Mansour. “There is no power on Earth that can remove the Palestinian people from our ancestral homeland, including Gaza.”
He has also said that the US is not going to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza.
“We want to rebuild it. We want to put it back together. And we ask all countries to help us in this endeavour,” he said. “We are not looking for other homelands or other countries.”
The UN has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognised borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war with neighbouring Arab states.
“Any durable peace will require tangible, irreversible and permanent progress toward the two-state solution, an end to the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with Gaza as an integral part,” said Guterres.
“A viable, sovereign Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel is the only sustainable solution for Middle East stability,” he said.
Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005. The territory has been ruled by Hamas since 2007 but is still considered to be under Israeli occupation by the United Nations. Israel and Egypt control access.
A deadly attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, set off a war that has since laid waste to most of the territory. A deal on a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas went into force on 19 January.
Trump offers for US to be responsible for reconstruction of Gaza
US President Donald Trump had offered for the US to be responsible for the reconstruction of Gaza, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday.
Rubio, speaking at a press conference in Guatemala City, said it was a unique offer to step in and clear debris and destruction in Gaza, adding that people would have to live somewhere while it is rebuilt. He said it was not meant as a hostile move and that details still needed to be worked out.
US House Speaker Johnson praises Trump’s 'bold' Gaza proposal
Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday praised Trump’s proposal for the US to take over the war-torn Gaza Strip and said House Republicans would stand with Trump on his initiative.
“The initial announcement yesterday I think was greeted by surprise by many, but cheered, by I think, people all around the world,” Johnson told a press conference. “Why? Because that area is so dangerous, and he’s taking bold, decisive action to try to secure the peace of that region.”
Meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump proposed the US take over Gaza and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
Johnson said he awaited further details on Trump’s plan. He said he would discuss the issue with Netanyahu when he meets with him at the US Capitol on Thursday.
Human Rights Watch: displacing Palestinians would be moral abomination
Displacing Palestinians would be a moral abomination, said Human Rights Watch Israel and Palestine director on Wednesday in response to a proposal from Trump for the US to take over Gaza.
“It would be a moral abomination,” Omar Shakir, from the international non-government organisation that advocates for human rights, told Reuters.
“International humanitarian law forbids the forced displacement of the population of an occupied territory. When such forced displacement is widespread, it can amount to a war crime or a crime against humanity,” added Shakir.
Trump’s Gaza proposal sparks global condemnation
Trump’s proposal for the US to take over war-ruined Gaza and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere has shattered US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, drawing global condemnation.
The shock move from Trump, a longtime New York property developer, drew rebukes from international powers including Russia, China and Germany, which said it would bring “new suffering and new hatred”. Regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia rejected the proposal outright.
Trump, in his first major Middle East policy announcement, said he envisioned building a resort where international communities could live in harmony after over 15 months of Israeli bombardment devastated the tiny coastal enclave and killed more than 47,000 people, by Palestinian tallies.
It is not clear whether Trump will go ahead with his controversial proposal or is simply taking an extreme position as a bargaining strategy. Trump said that he plans to visit Gaza, Israel and Saudi Arabia, but did not say when he will go.
“Everybody loves it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, referring to his Gaza idea.
Michael Milshtein, a former intelligence officer and one of Israel’s leading specialists on Hamas, said Trump’s comments put Israel on a collision course with its Arab neighbours.
“Maybe Trump is trying to promote pressure on the Arab states [so] they will not create any obstacles if he tries to promote a normalisation between Saudi Arabia and Israel.”
Trump offered no specifics as he announced his proposal while welcoming Netanyahu to the White House on Tuesday. He said he and his team had been discussing the possibility with Jordan, Egypt and other regional countries.
Netanyahu, who met on Wednesday with US Vice-President JD Vance, would not be drawn into discussing the proposal, other than to praise Trump for trying a new approach.
Jordan’s King Abdullah said on Wednesday he rejected any moves to annex land and displace Palestinians. Egypt said it would back Gaza recovery plans, following a ceasefire that took effect on 19 January, without Palestinians leaving the territory.
In Gaza, Palestinians living among the wreckage of their former homes said they would never accept the idea.
“Trump can go to hell, with his ideas, with his money, and with his beliefs. We are going nowhere. We are not some of his assets,” said Samir Abu Basel in Gaza City.
World leaders said they continued to support the two-state solution that has formed the basis of U.S. policy in the region for decades, which has held that Gaza would be part of a future Palestinian state that includes the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
An official from Palestinian militant group Hamas, which ruled the Gaza Strip before the war there that followed Hamas’ 7 October 2023 cross-border attack on Israel, said Trump’s proposal was “ridiculous and absurd”.
“Any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region,” Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters, saying Hamas remains committed to the ceasefire accord with Israel and negotiating its next phase.
Trump’s pronouncements appear to run counter to US public opinion, which polls have shown is overwhelmingly opposed to new military entanglement in conflict zones following lengthy interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Far-right Israeli legislator praises Trump’s comments on Gaza
Far-right Israeli politician Itamar Ben Gvir hailed Trump’s comments that Palestinians should be moved out of Gaza, joining settler groups in the occupied West Bank in urging swift action.
Ben Gvir, former minister for national security, said in a post on X on Tuesday that “encouraging” Gazans to migrate from the enclave was the only correct strategy at the end of the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
He urged Netanyahu to adopt that policy “immediately”.
The hardline former minister, who is part of a political movement advocating for Jewish settlement in Gaza, and two other ministers from his nationalist-religious party resigned from Netanyahu’s Cabinet last month over a landmark deal that aims to secure the release of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
The Nachala Movement, which promotes Jewish settlement in the West Bank, said that, assuming Trump’s comments were put into practice, “we must hurry and establish settlements throughout the Gaza Strip.
“No part of the land of Israel should be left without Jewish settlement. If an area remains desolate, it may be captured by enemies,” it said in a statement on the social media platform X.
Human rights advocates deplore such ideas as ethnic cleansing. Any forced displacement would probably be a violation of international law.
White House: Trump has not committed to putting US troops in Gaza
Trump had not committed to putting US troops on the ground in the Gaza Strip as part of his proposal for a US takeover of the Palestinian enclave, said the White House on Wednesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump believed the US needed to be involved in the rebuilding of Gaza “to ensure stability in the region. That does not mean boots on the ground in Gaza.”
Leavitt also said Trump wanted to see Palestinians who live in Gaza “temporarily relocated” for the enclave to be rebuilt. Trump had called on Tuesday for a permanent resettlement of Palestinians out of Gaza.
Leavitt did not elaborate on the shift in rhetoric.
Saudi Arabia says no ties with Israel without Palestinian state
Saudi Arabia said it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state, contradicting Trump’s claim that Riyadh was not demanding a Palestinian homeland when he said the US wanted to take over the Gaza Strip.
Saudi Arabia rejected any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land, said Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry in a statement on Wednesday, adding that its stance towards the Palestinians was not negotiable.
The United Arab Emirates categorically rejected any attempt to displace the Palestinians and deny them “inalienable rights”, said the UAE foreign ministry on Wednesday.
Gaza should be an essential part of a future Palestinian state, said a European Union (EU) foreign policy spokesperson on Wednesday, adding that the EU was committed to a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.
“We took note of President Trump’s comments. The EU remains firmly committed to a two-state solution, which we believe is the only path to long-term peace for both Israelis and Palestinians,” said the EU spokesperson.
“Gaza is an integral part of a future Palestinian state,” he added. DM
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