The Albany Gazette - Trump floats plan to 'clean out' Gaza as fragile truce enters second week

The truce deal that came into effect on January 19 saw four Israeli hostages and around 200 Palestinian prisoners released to joyful scenes on Saturday, in the second such exchange so far.

But after 15 months of war, Trump called Gaza a "demolition site" and said he had spoken to Jordan's King Abdullah II about moving Palestinians out of the territory.

"I'd like Egypt to take people. And I'd like Jordan to take people," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that he expected to talk to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.

Most Gazans are Palestinian refugees or their descendants.

For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark historical memories of what the Arab world calls the "Nakba" or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation 75 years ago.

Egypt has previously warned against any "forced displacement" of Palestinians from Gaza into the Sinai desert, which Sisi said could jeopardise the peace treaty Egypt signed with Israel in 1979.

Jordan is already home to around 2.3 million registered Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations.

"You're talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing," Trump said of Gaza, whose population is about 2.4 million, adding that "something has to happen".

"I'd rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change," Trump said, adding that moving Gaza's inhabitants could be "temporarily or could be long term".

The vast majority of Gaza's people have been displaced, often multiple times, by the Gaza war that began after Hamas's attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Trump's new administration has promised "unwavering support" for Israel, without yet laying out details of its Middle East policy.

He confirmed Saturday he had ordered the Pentagon to release a shipment of 2,000-lb bombs for Israel which was blocked by his predecessor Joe Biden.

- 'We miss our homes' -

While Israel and militant group Hamas completed their second hostage-prisoner swap under the ceasefire deal on Saturday, a last-minute dispute blocked the expected return of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to the Gaza Strip's devastated north.

Israel announced it would block Palestinians' passage to the north until a civilian woman hostage who the prime minister's office said "was supposed to be released" on Saturday walks free.

A Hamas source told AFP that the woman, Arbel Yehud, will be "released as part of the third swap set for next Saturday".

After a 42-day initial phase, the deal's second phase is to see negotiations for a permanent end to the war, but analysts have warned it risks collapsing because of the deal's multi-phase nature and deep distrust between Israel and Hamas.

During the first phase, 33 hostages should be freed in staggered releases in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

A total of seven hostages and 289 Palestinians have so far been released under the deal, as well as one Jordanian prisoner freed by Israel.

In Gaza, Palestinian police prevented hundreds of displaced people from reaching the Israeli-controlled passage to the north, where Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles were blocking the road.

Rafiqa Subh, waiting to return to Beit Lahia, said: "We want to go back, even though our houses are destroyed. We miss our homes so much."

The Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said Gazans were not allowed to approach the Netzarim Corridor, through which they have to pass to reach their homes in the north, "until it is announced open".

"These instructions will remain in effect" until further notice and until "Hamas fulfils its commitments", Adraee said.

The truce has brought a surge of food, fuel, medicines and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza, but the UN says "the humanitarian situation remains dire".

- 'Until the last hostage' -

The four hostages released on Saturday, all women soldiers, were reunited with their families and taken to hospital, where a doctor said they were in a stable condition.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack which triggered the war, 87 remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.

Some Israelis fear for the fate of the remaining hostages as far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition oppose the ceasefire.

Hours after Saturday's hostage release was completed, thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv, as they have done weekly throughout the war, to pressure the authorities to secure the release of more hostages.

An AFP correspondent said the demonstrators chanted in support of the return of all remaining hostages, including those not slated for release during the first phase of the truce.

"The families cannot breathe. We are under immense stress... We will do everything, we will fight until the end, until the last hostage" returns, said Ifat Kalderon, whose cousin Ofer Kalderon is still held in Gaza.

Efrat Machikava, niece of hostage Gadi Mozes, said that "our hearts are filled with joy for the four hostages who returned to us today, but we are extremely concerned for our loved ones still held in terrorist captivity."

The October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,283 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.

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(A.Thompson--TAG)