Hamas chief in Gaza says Trump’s plan for enclave ‘doomed’
Khalil al-Hayya, head of the Palestinian group in Gaza, says the plans of the West, the United States and President Donald Trump for the Gaza Strip are “doomed”.
“We will bring them down as we brought down the projects before them,” he said during a commemoration of the 46th anniversary of the Iranian revolution in Tehran.
Trump said on Sunday he was committed to buying and owning Gaza but could allow sections of the land to be rebuilt by other states in the Middle East.
Trump says no right of return for Palestinians under Gaza plan
The US president says in a TV interview that Palestinians would have no right of return to Gaza under his plan for the US to take over the territory.
“No, they wouldn’t because they’re going to have much better housing,” Trump told Fox News channel’s Bret Baier when asked if the Palestinians would have the right to return.
“In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them.”
For more on Trump’s chaotic second term, check out our live coverage here.
Netanyahu says Trump determined to implement Gaza plan
The Israeli prime minister has delivered a speech in the Knesset. Here are some of his main points:
- Trump’s vision is a new and creative vision. He is determined to implement it without Hamas and without the Palestinian Authority.
- The meeting with Trump at the White House last week was the most important of all. After a period that was full of challenges, we finally reached a consensus with the US administration.
- Israel agrees with the US administration on all pivotal issues in the Middle East.
- Israel agrees with the US government on achieving all the goals of the war, including the elimination of Hamas and the return of the captives.
Israel’s Smotrich says victory lies in ‘destruction of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran’
The far-right Israeli finance minister was delivering remarks to reporters when the cousin of an Israeli captive who had been held in Gaza and was released last week angrily shouted at him.
Eyal Calderon, a relative of Ofer Calderon, held up a picture of released captives and said they represented “absolute victory”, not the military goals outlined by Israeli politicians in Netanyahu’s government.
He was removed from the scene after he was told by Smotrich that absolute victory would include the “destruction of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and the strengthening of Israel’s security”.
The minister, who has been a staunch opponent of the Gaza ceasefire and wants Israel to return to fighting, said the words of the former captive’s family member were “painful emotional manipulation”.
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