Trump says for third time he is ‘confident’ Egypt, Jordan will take in Palestinians
We have been reporting on the US president’s proposal to “clean out” Palestinians from Gaza, and his call for Egypt and Jordan to take them in.
Trump has appeared undeterred by stern statements in recent days from Egypt and Jordan rejecting his plan, doubling down and insisting “they will do it”. Trump has now reiterated his confidence in Egypt and Jordan taking in Palestinian refugees for a third time when speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday.
“I heard somebody said they’re not going to, but I think they will. I feel confident they will,” he said.
Trump’s proposal has been widely condemned, with critics labelling it an attempt at “ethnic cleansing”.
Arab FMs reject displacing Palestinians ‘under any circumstances’
The foreign ministers and officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League have made a joint statement on the proposal advanced by US President Donald Trump.
They rejected the transfer of Palestinians from their land “under any circumstances or justifications”, presenting a unified stance against Trump’s call for Egypt and Jordan to take in residents of Gaza.
The officials and ministers said they were looking forward to working with Trump’s administration to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, based on a two-state solution.
Palestinian pain does not register on the Israeli radar’
Israeli political commentator Ori Goldberg has spoken to Al Jazeera about the reaction in Israel to the release of the Palestinian prisoners.
“Palestinian pain does not register on the Israeli radar. Israelis don’t have the capacity to appreciate it, and a lot of us view Palestinian pain as Palestinians’ fault,” Goldberg said.
He added that “Israel does not acknowledge its actions in Gaza” and “does not see them as anything but by necessity, required by self-defence”.
Many Israelis are unlikely to see the scenes of joy in Gaza after the return of the Palestinian prisoners, “and even if they were, I doubt they regret there is anything but proof that if you make a wrong choice, you suffer the consequences”, Goldberg said.
He noted there is a sense of joy after the return of the captives, “but there is also a tremendous amount of frustration and anger that … can generally be defined as a sense that Israel’s war, which was defined as the most justified war Israel fought, has, after more than 15 months, come to absolutely nothing”.
Israeli army retracts claim on killing Qassam Brigades commander: Reports
The Israeli military has acknowledged that it did not kill the commander of the Shati Battalion of Hamas’s armed wing, Haitham Khuwajari, in December 2023, according to Israeli media.
The media reports quoted the military as saying in a statement that at the time it “assessed with high probability that he had been eliminated, leading to an official statement”.
The army reportedly added that a further review revealed that the intelligence assessment relied on was incorrect and he was not killed in the attack.
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