US President Donald Trump on Monday said that the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas should be cancelled if the militant outfit doesn’t release the remaining hostages from Gaza by midday on Saturday, saying that otherwise “all hell is going to break out”.
While speaking to reporters after signing a slew of executive orders, Trump said, “If they’re not here, all hell is going to break out” and said he expressed fear that many scheduled for release are actually already dead.
However, he also acknowledged that such a decision would be up to Israel. “I’m speaking for myself. Israel can override it.”
Trump’s idea of US ‘owning’ Gaza
The comments came in the backdrop of the US President’s recent remarks that Palestinians in Gaza would not have a right to return home under his plan for US ‘ownership’ of the strife-torn region, contradicting the statements of other officials from his administration who have argued that Trump was only calling for temporary relocation of Gazans.
Last week, Trump floated the idea of his plan to take control of Gaza by taking it under the American flag and turning it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
The President has in recent times increased the pressure on Arab states, especially America’s allies Jordan and Egypt, to take Gaza’s Palestinians, who claim the territory as part of a future homeland.
“We’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
In the meantime, he said, “I would own this”, adding that it should be thought of as a real estate development for the future. “It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent,” the President said.
Notably, Arab nations have firmly condemned Trump’s proposal, with the US President all set to host Jordan King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday.
Other than the concerns over damage to the two-state solution to the Israel-Hamas conflict, Egypt and Jordan have also privately raised security matters about welcoming large number of extra refugees into their countries, even if on a temporary basis.
Trump’s comments on ‘buying’ Gaza has risked jeopardizing the already tense ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, a point which has brought a pause to the 15-month-long war in Gaza.
Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had suggested after Trump’s proposal that he only wanted the Palestinians to be relocated “temporarily” from Gaza for an “interim” period to allow the removal of debris, disposal of unexploded ordnance and reconstruction of the territory.
Additionally, Trump also did not rule out deploying American troops to help secure the territory but at the same time, he also insisted that no US funds would be available to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza, raising several questions over the nature of his plan.
A senior Hamas official, meanwhile, slammed Trump’s latest remarks about US owning Gaza and described it as “absurd”. Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the militant outfit’s politico bureau, said that these comments “reflect a deep ignorance of Palestine and the region”.
He also said that the US president’s approach toward the Palestinian cause will fail. “Dealing with the Palestinian cause with the mentality of a real estate dealer is a recipe for failure. Our Palestinian people will thwart all transfer and deportation plans.”
(with AP inputs)
