Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called US President Donald Trump’s plan to resettle Palestinians from the Gaza Strip a “remarkable idea,” although officials have dismissed the idea that the US should take ownership of the territory.
On Tuesday, Trump called for the “permanent” resettlement of Palestinians from war-torn Gaza and left the door open for US troops to be stationed there as part of a massive reconstruction operation. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said he only wanted to temporarily relocate some 1.8 million Gazans to allow them to rebuild.
However, even that proposal has drawn criticism from Palestinians, who fear they will never be allowed back in if they flee, as well as from Arab countries that Trump has urged to host them.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday, Netanyahu again praised Trump.
“It’s a remarkable idea and I think it should be really pursued,” he said. “Examined, pursued and done, because I think it will create a different future for everyone.”
Earlier, Netanyahu met with Defence Minister Pete Hegseth, who said the military was “ready to consider all options” for rebuilding Gaza.
Rubio, making his first foreign trip as secretary of state, called Trump’s offer a “very generous” offer to help with debris removal and rebuilding the enclave after 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s former finance minister, wrote on X:
“Judging by Starmer’s shameful refusal to condemn Trump’s Gaza ethnic cleansing announcement in the Commons today, he still aspires to be Trump’s junior business partner, unable to realise he is petitioning a vindictive mob boss who demands acquiescence.”
Palestinian child shot dead by Israeli forces in southern Gaza Strip
A Palestinian child was killed on Wednesday by Israeli army gunfire in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, despite an ongoing truce between Hamas and Israel.
The victim, 13-year-old Hamza al-Hams, was shot dead by the Israeli army in Rafah, said a medical source at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.
Israeli troops opened fire at the child in the Al-Awda neighbourhood of Rafah, wounding him, eyewitnesses said, adding that he was transferred to a hospital where he died of his wounds.
Earlier, two Palestinians were killed – one by Israeli army fire in the Shuka neighbourhood east of Rafah, and the other died of wounds sustained on the first day of the ceasefire agreement. The first six-week phase of the ceasefire began in Gaza on January 19, halting an Israeli war that has killed more than 47,500 people and reduced the enclave to rubble.
