Donald Trump remains firm on Gaza purchase plans, stating, ‘I am determined to acquire and possess it,’ despite strong international backlash: Declines entry of Palestinian refugees into the United States.

Donald Trump is standing by his proposal to ‘purchase and possess’ Gaza despite increasing global criticism, raising questions about the region’s future amid an unstable situation involving the exchange of hostages and prisoners between Israel and Hamas.

‘I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,’ he told reporters onboard Air Force One as he made his way to New Orleans for the Super Bowl. 

He mentioned, ‘We might assign it to other Middle Eastern countries to develop certain parts of it. Other nations could participate through our support. Nevertheless, we are determined to acquire and control it, ensuring that Hamas cannot reclaim it.’

In an attempt to defend the strategy, Trump suggested that civilians have no viable options to go back to following Israel’s extensive military actions in the Gaza Strip, a move that could potentially reverse years of global diplomatic efforts.

He said that the ‘remainder will be demolished’ and insisted that Arab nations would agree to take Palestinians after speaking with him.

The plan has sent shockwaves around the world, with America’s allies voicing concern and rights groups warning the move would be tantamount to ‘ethnic cleansing’. China made a rare break from its muted position on the war to deride Trump’s plan.

Neighboring Egypt and Jordan have long expressed reservations, fearing Israeli plans to permanently expel Palestinians, and the possible arrival of Palestinian militant groups.

Asked whether the U.S. should take Palestinian refugees, Trump replied: ‘I think its a very far distance for them to travel, but I’d have to look at individual cases… they’re far away from their families and friends… I think they’d be very happy staying in the general area.’

Trump assessed that civilians in the Gaza would voluntarily leave their homeland if given the choice. A minority of polled Palestinians said they were considering emigrating in October 2023, mostly citing economic concerns.

Saudi Arabia, an American ally which made efforts to normalize relations with Israel during the first Trump administration, said that it would not continue the process without the creation of a Palestinian state in response to Trump’s comments.

The Foreign Ministry said it rejected any attempts to displace Palestinians, describing its stance as ‘clear and explicit’.

Jordan, expected to take in some of the refugees, stressed ‘the need to put a stop to settlement expansion, expressing rejection of any attempts to annex land and displace the Palestinians’, the Royal Court of King Abdullah II said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been careful not to invoke Trump’s ire amid fears of a looming trade war, but said last week that Palestinians ‘must be allowed home’ after the plans were first announced. 

Democrats in the U.S. were likewise abhorred by the initial, and ambiguous, suggestion of a US takeover. 

Senator Chris Murphy wrote on X: ‘He’s totally lost it. A US invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of US troops and decades of war in the Middle East. It’s like a bad, sick joke.’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to backtrack the suggestion of permanent resettlement, suggesting Palestinians would only be temporarily resettled to allow for reconstruction.  

‘In the interim, obviously people are going to have to live somewhere while you’re rebuilding it,’ Rubio said on Wednesday.

Still, Trump’s plans to buy Gaza and rebuild it into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ continue to inflame tensions and muddy the uncertain future of the beleaguered Gaza Strip.

‘President Trump’s completely outrageous and outlandish calls for the ethnic cleansing of more than two million Palestinian people from Gaza severely undermines the chances for the continuation of the ceasefire,’ Josh Ruebner, a lecturer at Georgetown University’s Justice and Peace program, told Al Jazeera.

He warned that the president ‘stands to wreck the very fragile process’ of the ceasefire and handover of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners by wading in.

A ceasefire, mediated by the Biden administration, Qatar and Egypt, came into effect on January 19, at first laying out terms for returning those detained and held captive in Israel and Gaza respectively.

So far, the delicate ceasefire agreement has held, though Israel insists it retains the right to go back into Gaza should the second phase of the agreement collapse.

Talks on the second phase, meant to see more hostages released and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, were due to start February 3. 

But Israel and Hamas appear to have made little progress, even as Israeli forces withdrew Sunday from a Gaza corridor in the latest commitment to the truce. 

Israel has expressed openness to the idea of resettling Gaza’s population – ‘a revolutionary, creative vision,’ Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday – while Hamas, the Palestinians and much of the world have rejected it.

Hamas, whose future in Gaza remains unclear, rejected Donald Trump’s plans, with Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya vowing today to to ‘bring them down as we brought down the projects before them’.

The fate of the Gaza Strip is still in the air with the latter stages of the ceasefire deal still to be agreed.

The Palestinian Authority had insisted last month that it should be the sole governing power in Gaza after the war.

Israel has rejected any future involvement of Hamas in Gaza’s administration, but has also been almost as opposed to rule by the Palestinian Authority, which has limited governing power in the West Bank.

Egypt said it will host an emergency Arab summit on Feb. 27 to discuss the ‘new and dangerous developments.’

Trump´s proposal has moral, legal and practical obstacles. It may have been proposed as a negotiation tactic to pressure Hamas or an opening gambit in discussions aimed at securing a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia condemned Netanyahu´s recent comment that Palestinians could create their state there, saying it aimed to divert attention from crimes committed by ‘the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.’

Qatar called Netanyahu´s comment ‘provocative’ and a blatant violation of international law.

The Kremlin said today it was waiting for more details on the plan to buy the Gaza Strip.

‘It’s worth waiting for some details here if we’re talking about a coherent plan of action,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

‘We are talking about almost 1.2 million Palestinians who live there, and this is probably the main issue,’ Peskov told a conference call.

‘These are the people who were promised a two-state solution to the Middle East problem by the relevant Security Council resolutions, and so on and so forth. 

‘There are a lot of questions like that. We don’t know the details yet, so we have to be patient,’ said Peskov.

For his part, Trump has insisted that Palestinians displaced by the conflict ‘don’t want to return to Gaza’.

‘If we could give them a home in a safer area – the only reason they´re talking about returning to Gaza is they don´t have an alternative. 

‘When they have an alternative, they don´t want to return to Gaza.’

Rights groups continue to advocate for the ‘right to return’ of the Palestinians forced to flee their homeland in 1948.

The right of a person to return to his home in his native country has traditionally been included among an individual’s fundamental rights, the UN notes. 

Trump also suggested he was losing patience with the deal after seeing the emaciated hostages released this week.

‘I watched the hostages come back today and they looked like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated. It looked like many years ago, the Holocaust survivors, and I don´t know how much longer we can take that,’ he said.

Families of remaining hostages said time is running out as some survivors described being barefoot and in chains.

‘We cannot let the hostages remain there. There is no other way. I am appealing to the cabinet,’ said Ella Ben Ami, daughter of a hostage released Saturday, adding she now understands the toll of captivity is much worse than imagined.

The father of a remaining hostage, Kobi Ohel, told Israel’s Channel 13 the newly released men said his son, Alon, and others ‘live off half a pita to a full pita a day. These are not human conditions.’ Ohel’s mother, Idit, sobbed as she told Channel 12 her son has been chained for over a year.

Michael Levy said his brother, the newly released Or Levy, had been barefoot and hungry for 16 months. 

‘The decision-makers knew exactly what his condition was and what everyone else´s condition was, and they did not do enough to bring him back with the urgency that was needed,’ he said.

On Saturday, as Israelis reeled, former defense minister Yoav Gallant said on social media that the deterioration in hostages´ conditions was something ‘Israel has known about for some time.’

The ceasefire that began on Jan. 19 has held, raising hopes that the 16-month war that led to seismic shifts in the Middle East may be headed toward an end.

The latest step was Israel forces’ withdrawal from the 4-mile (6-kilometer) Netzarim corridor separating northern and southern Gaza, which was used as a military zone. No troops were seen in the vicinity Sunday. As the ceasefire began last month, Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to cross Netzarim and return to the north.

But the deal remains fragile. On Sunday, civil defense first responders in Gaza said Israeli fire killed three people east of Gaza City. Israel’s military noted ‘several hits’ after firing warning shots and warned Palestinians against approaching its forces.

Cars piled with belongings headed north. Under the deal, Israel should allow cars to cross Netzarim uninspected. Troops remain along Gaza´s borders with Israel and Egypt.

Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said the troops’ withdrawal showed the militant group had ‘forced the enemy to submit to our demands’ and thwarted ‘Netanyahu´s illusion of achieving total victory.’

Israel has said it won´t agree to a complete withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas´ military and political capabilities are eliminated. Hamas says it won´t hand over the last hostages until Israel removes all troops.

During the ceasefire’s 42-day first phase, Hamas is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and a flood of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Israel has said Hamas confirmed that eight of the 33 are dead.