Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

US President Donald Trump meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House. Alamy Stock Photo

Trump says ‘Gaza thing has never worked’ as he meets Benjamin Netanyahu at White House

The US President renewed his call to Arab nations to relocate displaced Palestinians.

US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has said that “the Gaza thing has never worked” as he and top advisers made the case that a three-to-five-year timeline for reconstruction of the war-torn territory, as laid out in a temporary truce agreement, is not viable.

Trump renewed his call to Arab nations to relocate displaced Palestinians as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, his first in-person meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration last month.

“You can’t live in Gaza right now, you need another location,” Trump said. “The Gaza thing has never worked.

“If we could find the right piece of land, pieces of land, and build them some really nice places, I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza.”

Sitting next to Netanyahu, Trump continued: “Why would they want to return? The place has been hell. It’s been one of the meanest, toughest places on earth… and nobody can live there, you can’t live there.

He suggested an area could be built with “massive amounts of money” being supplied by “very rich nations”. 

“You could build four or five or six areas. It doesn’t have to be one area, but you take certain areas and you build really good quality housing, like a beautiful town, like someplace where they can live and not die.

“Gazans are guaranteed that they’re gonna end up dying. The same thing is going to happen again. It’s happened over and over again, and it’s going to happen again.”

Egypt and Jordan, as well as other Arab nations, have flatly rejected calls by Trump to relocate the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians during post-war rebuilding of the territory.

But senior administration officials continue to press the case for relocation of Palestinians on humanitarian grounds.

“To me, it is unfair to explain to Palestinians that they might be back in five years,” Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, told reporters. “That’s just preposterous.”

The White House’s focus on reconstruction comes as the nascent truce between Israel and Hamas hangs in the balance.

president-donald-trump-greets-israeli-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-as-he-arrives-at-the-west-wing-of-the-white-house-tuesday-feb-4-2025-in-washington-ap-photoalex-brandon US President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives at the West Wing of the White House. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Netanyahu is facing competing pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce against Hamas in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who want the remaining hostages home and for the 15-month conflict to end.

Ahead of the meeting, the US president told reporters that Palestinians would “love” his plan to move them out of war-torn Gaza, and that he was “here to listen” to key ally Netanyahu.

Trump also doubled down on his suggestion that Palestinians should get a “fresh, beautiful piece of land” in either Egypt or Jordan, as his envoy said Gaza would remain uninhabitable for years.

“I think they’d love to leave Gaza if they had an option,” Trump said in the Oval Office.

“If we could find the right piece of land, or numerous pieces of land, and build them some really nice places… I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza.”

Egypt and Jordan have flatly rejected this, and today their leaders stressed “the need to commit to the united Arab position” that would help achieve peace, according to the Egyptian presidency.

Palestinian leaders and Gazans have also denounced Trump’s idea.

‘Absolutely not’

“Trump thinks Gaza is a pile of garbage – absolutely not,” said 34-year-old Hatem Azzam, a resident of the southern city of Rafah.

Israel said hours ahead of the White House talks it was sending a team to mediator Qatar to discuss the second phase of the agreement, which could lead to a more permanent end to the war.

Hamas said today that negotiations for the second phase had begun, with spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanou saying the focus was on “shelter, relief and reconstruction”.

palestinians-walk-along-a-street-in-gaza-city-littered-with-rubble-from-buildings-destroyed-during-the-israeli-armys-ground-and-air-offensive-against-hamas-in-gaza-city-tuesday-feb-4-2025-ap-pho Palestinians walk along a street in Gaza City, littered with rubble from buildings destroyed during the Israeli army's ground and air offensive. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Under the ceasefire, Palestinian militants and Israel have begun exchanging hostages held in Gaza for prisoners in Israeli custody.

The latest phase of the conflict was sparked when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, taking into Gaza 251 hostages, 76 of whom are still held in the Palestinian territory including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory response has killed at least 47,518 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The UN considers these figures as reliable.

Families of the Israeli hostages have been urging all sides to ensure the agreement is maintained so their loved ones can be freed.

Netanyahu, the first foreign leader hosted by Trump since his return to office, said before leaving for Washington that Israel had “redrawn the map” of the Middle East since the war began and drew in regional allies of Hamas.

“I believe that working closely with President Trump we can redraw it even further, and for the better,” he said.

US to stop UNRWA funding

Today, Trump also signed an executive order withdrawing the US from a number of United Nations bodies, including its Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the main UN relief agency for Palestine (UNRWA). 

The executive order also said Washington would review involvement in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The moves were made in protest against what White House staff secretary Will Scharf described as “anti-American bias” at the UN agencies.

The 47 members of the UN Human Rights Council are elected by the General Assembly to three-year terms, with the United States ending its latest term on 31 December. It currently has observer status at the body.

Today’s order would appear to end all US participation in the council’s activities, which include reviews of countries’ human rights records and specific allegations of rights abuses.

“More generally, the executive order calls for review of American involvement and funding in the UN in light of the wild disparities and levels of funding among different countries,” said Scharf.

Trump highlighted the “tremendous potential” of the UN but said it is “not being well run.”

“It should be funded by everybody, but we’re disproportionate, as we always seem to be,” he said.

Trump has long railed against Washington’s levels of funding of multilateral bodies, calling for other countries to increase their contributions, notably at military alliance Nato.

UNRWA is the chief aid agency for Palestinians, with many of the 1.9 million people displaced by the war in Gaza dependent on its deliveries for survival.

Under Trump, Washington has backed a move by Israel to ban the agency, after the US ally accused UNRWA of spreading hate material.

US funding of UNRWA was halted in January 2024 by the administration of then-president Joe Biden after Israel accused 12 of its employees of involvement in Hamas’s 7 October 2023, attack.

A series of investigations found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA, but found no evidence for Israel’s chief allegations, and most other donors that had similarly suspended funding resumed their financial support.

Earlier in his latest term, Trump also withdrew from the Paris climate accord and began withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO), of which it is the largest donor.

Each of the withdrawals has been a repeat of the Republican’s first term in office, which ended in 2021.

With reporting from Press Association and © AFP 2025 

Need more information on what is happening in Israel and Palestine? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to navigating the news online.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds