The governments of Egypt and Jordan categorically rejected the possibility of offering shelter to displaced Gaza refugees on Monday after President Donald Trump lamented the state of the Hamas-controlled region as a “demolition site” and suggested it needed to be “cleaned out” before civilians could live there in peace.
Gaza has seen tremendous levels of destruction since October 7, 2023, when Hamas, a jihadist terrorist organization that controls the area, invaded Israel and conducted targeted massacres of civilians, killing families in their own homes and engaging in widespread torture, gang rape, and other atrocities. Israel declared war on Hamas the next day, with the goal of making it impossible for the Iran-backed terrorists to conduct a second similar operation. Israel lost an estimated 1,200 people on October 7.
The war has resulted in the elimination of some of the most prominent leaders in Hamas, including Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, “political” chief Ismail Haniyeh, and and al-Qassam Brigades leader Mohammed Deif. Israel has also successfully dismantled much of Iran’s terrorist proxy network, including the leadership of Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.
Israel agreed to a ceasefire deal with Hamas this month that has allowed the slow return of civilians to Gaza. Given that Hamas often uses schools, hospitals, and other civilian infrastructure to hide its terrorist operations, the war required the destruction of much of that infrastructure, meaning Gaza will require extensive rebuilding before it can sustain any large civilian population comfortably.
“It’s literally a demolition site right now,” President Trump said of Gaza in remarks to reporters on Saturday. “Almost everything is demolished and people are dying there.”
Trump suggested that Jordan and Egypt, Gaza’s immediate Arab neighbors, take in displaced Palestinian refugees while Gaza rebuilds.
“You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know, over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts, that site. And I don’t know, something has to happen,” Trump said.
The president said that he had raised the possibility of Jordan taking in Palestinian refugees with the country’s king, Abdullah II, in a phone call last week, and that he would suggest to Egyptian strongman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi the same.
The governments of both nations offered statements that enthusiastically rejected the possibility of offering refuge to displaced Gazans given the unlivable conditions in the Strip. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry stated plainly that the country “rejected” letting any Palestinians in, while Egypt described its opposition to helping displaced Palestinians as “categorical.”
“All talk about an alternative homeland for Palestinians is rejected. We will not accept it and will continue to confront it,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi asserted on Monday.
“Jordan is for Jordanians,” he continued, “and Palestine is for Palestinians. The resolution of the Palestinian issue must be on Palestinian soil.”
The Jordanian House of Representatives separately insisted in its own statement, “We reaffirm our rejection of all illusions of displacement aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause at the expense of Jordan and Egypt.”
“Jordan will not be an alternative homeland for attempts to displace the steadfast Palestinian people,” it added.
In Egypt, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday that affirmed what it described as the “resilience of the Palestinian people on their land,” suggesting Palestinians must endure the current harrowing conditions in Gaza while rebuilding occurs.
The Sisi government “reaffirmed its unwavering support for the resilience of the Palestinian people on their land and their commitment to their inalienable rights under international law and humanitarian law,” the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram reported. “The foreign ministry underscored its categorical rejection of any actions that undermine these rights, including settlement expansion, annexation of land, or the displacement of Palestinians—whether through temporary or permanent means.”
Trump nonetheless repeated his assertions that he did not support Palestinians being forced to live in the “hell” of Gaza.
“I’d like to get them living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence,” Trump told reporters. “When you look at the Gaza Strip, it’s been hell for so many years.”
“There have been various civilizations on that strip. It didn’t start here. It started thousands of years before,” he continued, “and there’s always been violence associated with it. You could get people living in areas that are a lot safer and maybe a lot better and maybe a lot more comfortable.”
The American president expressed optimism that Sisi and King Abdullah would eventually welcome Palestinians.
“I wish [Sisi] would take some. We helped them a lot, and I’m sure he’d help us. He’s a friend of mine. He’s in… a rough neighborhood,” Trump said. “But I think he would do it, and I think the King of Jordan would do it too.”
Among those most opposed to liberating Palestinians from Hamas-controlled Gaza are the remaining leaders of Hamas. A senior Hamas terrorist told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) this week that Hamas would “foil” attempts to rescue Palestinians from living under the jihadists. The Emirati newspaper The National reported on Tuesday that a “high-level” delegation of Hamas jihadists is in Egypt today to discuss the situation in Gaza with top officials.
“Mr. Trump’s comments sparked a flurry of behind-the-scenes diplomacy across much of the Arab world to formulate a unified stance to reject the suggestions,” The National observed, citing anonymous sources, “and the issue figured prominently in the talks between Hamas and Egyptian officials.”
Egypt is also reportedly planning street protests to oppose accepting Palestinian refugees.
Egyptians, while claiming to support the Palestinian cause, have soundly rejected helping Palestinians by offering them shelter throughout the war. Shortly after the October 7 attacks, The National spoke to Egyptian citizens who complained, “Egypt has enough refugees living in it.”
“Just over the past 10 years or so, many Syrians came here to flee their war, then many thousands of Yemenis came when war broke out over there too,” an antiques dealer told the newspaper. “Then just this year, when war broke out in Sudan, the same happened and we allowed Sudanese refugees in.”
Syrians have begun to return home by the thousands following the end of the Assad family regime there in December, but that does not appear to have changed Cairo’s disposition towards Palestinians.
Egypt is the only country besides Israel to share a land border with Gaza. Egyptian authorities repeatedly fortified their border with Gaza throughout the war to keep Palestinians from entering their country.
In Jordan, King Abdullah has used international platforms to oppose sheltering Palestinian refugees.
“Now is the time to ensure the protection of the Palestinian people,” he said during his most recent address to the United Nations General Assembly in September. “It is the moral duty of this international community to establish a protection mechanism for them across the occupied territories.”
But, he added, “extremist” ideas like “the idea of Jordan as an alternative homeland” must be rejected.
“Let me be very, very clear: that will never happen,” he promised. “We will never accept the forced displacement of Palestinians, which is a war crime.”
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