From Saudi Arabia to Australia and China, world leaders denounce Trump’s plan to 'take over' Gaza

BEIRUT — US President Donald Trump's bombshell on Tuesday that Washington is planning to "take over" Gaza and displace 1.7 million Palestinians has been met with rejection across the Middle East and from European, Chinese and Australian governments. 

Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Tuesday, Trump suggested that Palestinian residents be permanently removed from the Gaza Strip and said the United States would “take over” the enclave after resettling the Palestinians elsewhere.

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out.”

He went on to say that Washington will “create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”

His remarks sent shockwaves across the region and the rest of the world. They follow his previous comments Jan. 26 about “cleaning out” Gaza and relocating Gazans to neighboring Egypt and Jordan.

Saudi Arabia sends 'unequivocal' no

Saudi Arabia, a key US ally in the region, swiftly rejected Trump’s latest comments, expressing its “firm and unwavering” support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

In a statement released shortly after Trump’s remarks on Wednesday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry affirmed Saudi Arabia’s “unequivocal rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, land annexation or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land.”

The ministry stressed that just and lasting peace in the region can only be achieved once Palestinians obtain their legitimate rights under international resolutions, “as has been previously clarified to both the previous and current US administration.”

The statement called on the international community to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people, “who will remain committed to their land and will not budge from it.”

Before the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October 2023, Washington had been pushing to bring Saudi Arabia into the 2020 Abraham Accords, under which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalized relations with Israel.

But after Israel launched its brutal military campaign against Gaza in response to Hamas’ cross-border assault on Oct. 7, Riyadh reportedly paused the discussions on a deal with Israel, with Saudi officials reiterating the need to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace and secure the rights of Palestinians before moving forward with any normalization deal.

Egypt supports PA in Gaza

Egypt was also quick in rejecting Trump's proposal even as the US president expressed confidence that Cairo and Amman would accept his plan to relocate Gazans to their territory. "They won’t tell me no. I want to remove all the residents of Gaza," Trump said on Tuesday. "It will happen."

On Wednesday, Cairo expressed its continued support for the “legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”

Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Atty highlighted the importance of the two-state solution as the basis for a permanent solution to the Palestinian issue and emphasized the importance of the PA taking control of governance in the Gaza Strip. He did not directly mention Trump’s idea.

Abdel Atty’s comments came during a meeting in Cairo with his Palestinian counterpart, Mohammad Mustafa, who also serves as Prime Minister, on Thursday.

Egypt and Jordan had vehemently rejected Trump’s comments last month about plans to move Palestinians out of Gaza.

Turkey denounces

In a phone call on Wednesday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani agreed on the need to rebuff any attempts to displace the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, stressing the necessity of ensuring Palestinians remain on their land. The two leaders made no mention about the remarks Trump made on Tuesday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan denounced Trump's plan to transfer Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip as “unacceptable.”

Speaking to the Turkish Anadolu news agency, Fidan reiterated Turkey’s rejection of any attempts to exclude the people of Gaza from Gaza solutions, reaffirming his country’s commitment to Palestinian rights.

Hamas, Fatah reject

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas strongly rejected Trump’s calls to take over Gaza and relocate Palestinians, calling them a “serious violation of international law.”

In a statement carried by the official WAFA news agency on Wednesday, the Palestinian leader stressed that “peace and stability will not be achieved in the region without the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of June 4, 1967, based on the two-state solution.”

He affirmed that the Palestinian people will not abandon their land and legitimate rights, which he stressed were “non-negotiable.”

In similar statements, the Palestine Liberation Organization rebuked any attempts to forcibly displace the Palestinians and reaffirmed its support for the two-state solution as the only way to achieve peace and security in the region.

“Here we were born, here we lived and here we will remain, and we appreciate the Arab position committed to these constants,” the secretary general of the PLO’s Executive Committee, Hussein Al-Sheikh, wrote on X Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Hamas leaders have come out in force to denounce Trump’s remarks.

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri rejected the idea of removing Palestinians from Gaza, warning that his group “would not allow these plans to pass.” In a statement on Tuesday, he cautioned that such statements by the US leader amount to a “recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region.”

Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, called Trump’s statements “racist and a blatant attempt to liquidate our Palestinian cause and deny our established national rights.”

Abdul Latif al-Qanou, another spokesperson for Hamas, vowed in a statement Tuesday that the Palestinian people “will remain attached to their land and will not accept the plan to displace them no matter the cost.”

Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad described Trump’s plan as a “dangerous escalation” that threatens the security of the region, including in Egypt and Jordan.

“Our Palestinian people, who have been resisting for more than a hundred years, will not submit to the dictates of Trump or anyone else,” the group said in a Wednesday statement, adding, “His naive statements will only serve as an incentive for us to strengthen the resistance until we achieve our goals of liberating our land and ending the occupation.”

Iran, one of the main backers of Hamas, has not issued an official reaction to the US plan. However, a senior Iranian official told Reuters Wednesday that Tehran disagreed with “any displacement of Gazans.”

For its part, the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen criticized the “American arrogance,” which it warned will spare no one if it is met with “Arab submission.”

“If Egypt or Jordan or both decide to challenge America, Yemen will stand with all its strength by its side, to the furthest extent and without red lines,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi political bureau, wrote on X.

Israel welcomes Trump’s plan

In Israel, Trump’s comments were met with praise from several leaders, including far-right officials.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told lawmakers on Wednesday that it was necessary to “consider out-of-the-box ideas.”

“As long as migration is carried out of a person’s free will and as long as there is a country that is willing to accept that person, it cannot be said to be immoral or inhumane,” he added.

In a post on X, former National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir praised Trump’s call to “encourage the migration of Gazans” as the only solution to the “Gaza problem” and urged Netanyahu to adopt this policy “as soon as possible.”

Israel Ganz, head of the umbrella settler body the Yesha Council, issued a statement praising Trump’s plan, which he said would end Palestinian ambitions to destroy Israel through Gaza. He added that the Israeli government must “adopt Trump’s vision today and translate it into action.”

Benny Gantz, head of the opposition National Unity Party, said in his own statement that Trump’s remarks are “further proof of the deep alliance between the US and Israel.”

The radical settler organization Nachala Movement wrote on X that if Trump’s statement about relocating Gazans is put into practice, “We must hurry and establish settlements throughout the Gaza Strip.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog described the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu on Tuesday as “important and productive,” but did not mention the US president’s comments on seizing Gaza.

China, Australia stress support for two-state solution

China rebuffed any plans to seize Gaza and forcibly transfer the Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters on Wednesday. He affirmed that Beijing “has always believed that Palestinians governing Palestine is the fundamental principle for postwar governance in Gaza.”

Russia, meanwhile, continues to support the two-state solution to resolve the Palestinian issue, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

“Our position on the Middle East solution is well known: The settlement in the Middle East can take place only on a two-state basis,” Peskov told reporters in Moscow, adding that this approach is backed by “the overwhelming majority of countries involved.”

Australia stopped short of condemning Trump’s idea, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reaffirmed his country’s support for a two-state solution.

“I'm not going to, as Australia's prime minister, give a daily commentary on statements by the US president. My job is to support Australia's position,” he told a press conference on Wednesday.

“The Australian government supports, on a bipartisan basis, a two-state solution,” he affirmed.

Japan expressed concerns over the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and said it was ready to support reconstruction and recovery efforts in the enclave. Asked about Trump’s comments, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on Wednesday that his country “will continue to urge the parties concerned to improve the humanitarian situation through the steady implementation of the cease-fire agreement and to calm down the situation.”

The Japanese government floated a plan earlier this week to provide medical care for the sick and wounded of Gaza in Japan.

Europe

Elsewhere in Europe, several countries also rejected plans to displace the Palestinians.  

France expressed its opposition to any proposal that would see Gaza fall under the control of a third party.  

“Gaza’s future must lie not in the prospect of control by a third state but in the framework of a future Palestinian state, under the aegis of the PA,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday. The statement reiterated France’s rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians and called for the implementation of the two-state solution to achieve lasting peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis.

Echoing similar comments, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed her country’s support for the two-state solution as the only way to allow Palestinians and Israelis “to live in peace, security and dignity.”

She stressed in a Wednesday press release that “Gaza — just like the West Bank and east Jerusalem — belongs to the Palestinians. It forms the basis for a future state of Palestine.”

The Spanish government denounced Trump’s comments, stressing that Gazans must remain in the Gaza Strip.

“Gaza is part of the future Palestinian state Spain supports and has to coexist guaranteeing the Israeli state's prosperity and safety,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters on Wednesday.

Madrid had been one of the strongest advocates for Palestinians during the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Last May, Spain announced its official recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy also hit back at Trump’s remarks, saying that Palestinians must be able to live in their homeland.

While agreeing with Trump that Gaza has become uninhabitable since the war, Lammy said, “We have always been clear in our view that we must see two states and we must see Palestinians able to live and prosper in their homelands in Gaza, in the West Bank.”

“That is what we want to get to,” he said during a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.