World recoils from Trump plan to 'take over' Gaza

Donald Trump’s proposal for the US to “take over” Gaza and remove much of its Palestinian population has sparked a fierce global backlash – with residents of the besieged territory making clear that if 15 months of brutal war was not enough to make them leave, the US president’s bullish rhetoric means nothing.

- NEDAL HAMDOUNA, SAM KILEY, BEL TREW

Arab nations across the Middle East and Europe moved swiftly to condemn Mr Trump’s remarks from the White House, where he said that the US “will take over the Gaza Strip” with a “a long-term ownership position” – estimating that about 1.8 million of the near-2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza would have to be relocated to achieve his vision of turning what he called a “hellhole” into “the Riviera of the Middle East”.

Sitting next to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr Trump said those being forced out would be housed in Jordan, Egypt and other countries – suggesting these neighbouring nations would come around to the idea despite their outright rejections. He said Gaza “has been a symbol of death and destruction for so many decades, and so bad for the people anywhere near it, and especially those who live there”.

Saudi Arabia said it “unequivocally rejected” the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza and that it would not normalise ties with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state. Jordan said its monarch, King Abdullah II, rejected “any attempts to annex land and displace the Palestinians” – while Egypt stressed the need for reconstruction “without moving the Palestinians”.

Inside Gaza, Basheer al-Dalo, 45, who was forced to flee Israel’s aerial bombardment and ground offensive 12 times before returning during the latest ceasefire to the rubble of his home in the north of the territory, said Mr Trump’s demand that Palestinians leave was the “first step to dissolving our people”.

Mr Al-Dalo is one among many in Gaza City – one of the most devastated areas of the Gaza Strip – who have lost their homes and family. “I am talking to you now while I am bleeding from cleaning the rubble,” he told