Donald Trump has announced his plan for the US to “take over” the Gaza Strip and permanently displace the 1.8 million Palestinians living there to settlements in Jordan and Egypt. He delivered the proposal alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a White House press conference on Tuesday, February 4, sparking global outrage and condemnation.

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump declared.

“I envision the world’s people there,” he continued, explaining that he wants to turn the territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East”.

“This could be so magnificent… It will be wonderful for the people. And I have a feeling that despite them saying no, I have a feeling that the king in Jordan and Egypt will open their hearts and give us the kind of land we need to get this done and people can live in harmony and peace.”

Netanyahu was forthright in his support of the proposal. He described Trump as “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” and praised the US President for “thinking outside the box with fresh ideas.” He added, “We have to finish the job in Gaza… Israel will end the war by winning the war”. 

Elsewhere, the proposal has been described as “breathtaking”, “outlandish”, and “outrageous”, and has been rejected by countries and leaders all over the world.

Palestinians are not dominos and the Gaza Strip is not for sale. Palestine belongs to Palestinians and Palestinians belong in Palestine. #DecolonizePalestine #FreePalestine https://t.co/1GmyBXO4Sn

— BADIL (@BADIL_Center) February 5, 2025

Saudi Arabia issued a statement noting that its call for an independent Palestinian state was a “firm, steadfast and unwavering position”.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also stresses what it had previously announced regarding its absolute rejection of infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, annexation of Palestinian lands or efforts to displace the Palestinian people from their land,” it continued.

China similarly opposed the “forced transfer of the residents of Gaza,” saying it “has always maintained that Palestinian rule over Palestinians is the basic principle of the postwar governance of Gaza”.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reinforced that his country continues to support a two-state solution, a position also shared by New Zealand’s foreign ministry.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s top diplomat Hakan Fidan said, “This is an unacceptable issue… It is wrong to even bring it up for discussion.”

One of those clips where you have to make sure you’re not hallucinating.
Donald Trump says Palestinians ought not be allowed to return to Gaza because “why would they want to return? That place has been hell” — next to the grinning man who made it hell.pic.twitter.com/FDabhUCMIP

— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) February 4, 2025

Democrat Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of US Congress, expressed: “The president is openly calling for ethnic cleansing while sitting next to a genocidal war criminal.”

In Ireland, campaigners have similarly condemned Trump’s remarks, saying the plan is “a new low”.

“For 16 months, under the Biden regime, the US was a full and active partner in Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian people, supplying funds, weaponry, and diplomatic cover while at least 62,000 people were slaughtered and Gaza was left in rubble,” the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) wrote.

“There was cautious hope and temporary relief when a ceasefire was announced last month – even if that ceasefire has been repeatedly breached by Israel. However, instead of granting Palestinians their rights, the Trump regime now envisions moving to a new stage in the genocide – the violent ethnic cleansing of the entire population of Gaza by US occupation troops, what Amnesty International has described as ‘tantamount to destroying (Palestinians) as a people’.”

The IPSC continued: “Trump’s horrific comments, coupled with suggestion that the US will support the illegal annexation of some, or all, of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the US’s reinstating of the funding ban on UNRWA, and the announcement that the US will withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council, should be a warning bell to the world.”

The group is calling on the Irish government to condemn Trump’s comments, get the US military out of Shannon Airport and immediately enact the Occupied Territories Bill, the Arms Embargo Bill, the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill, and “drop the anti-Palestinian IHRA definition of antisemitism”. It is also calling for all Irish political parties to not attend St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Washington DC next month.

There will be a protest at the US Embassy on Saturday, February 15, at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin on Friday, February 7, and at Shannon Airport and Aldergrove Airport in Belfast on Sunday, February 9. Details of each can be found here.