Egypt, Jordan, Hamas, PLO hail Trump remarks on not ‘expelling’ Palestinians

CAIRO: Egypt, Jordan, Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization welcomed on Thursday remarks from US President Donald Trump in which he said “nobody’s expelling any Palestinians” from the Gaza Strip.

It was not immediately clear whether Trump’s comments signalled further backtracking from his widely criticised proposal to take over the Palestinian territory, displacing its population to neighbouring countries.

In Doha, Arab foreign ministers met on Wednesday with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss reconstruction for Gaza, the Gulf state said.

“The Arab foreign ministers discussed the Gaza reconstruction plan, which was approved during the Arab League Summit held in Cairo on March 4, 2025. They also agreed with the US envoy to continue consultations and coordination on the plan as a foundation for the reconstruction efforts,” Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

“Nobody’s expelling any Palestinians,” Trump said at the White House on Wednesday, dismissing a question from a reporter who asked whether plans to “expel Palestinians out of Gaza” were under discussion with visiting Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin.

Egypt - which alongside the United States and Qatar is mediating truce talks between Hamas and Israel - “expressed its appreciation for US President Donald Trump’s statements... regarding not demanding residents of the Gaza Strip to leave”.

In a foreign ministry statement, it called Trump’s statement a “positive direction” that must be built on to advance efforts for peace.

Jordan welcomed “the remarks Wednesday by the American president”, and underlined “the importance of achieving a just and durable peace... in accordance with a two-state solution”, one Palestinian and one Israeli.

Israel’s government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects Palestinian statehood.

Trump raised the idea of displacing the more than two million Palestinans from war-battered Gaza in early February during a visit by Netanyahu.

After Egypt and Jordan rejected the idea, Trump later that month said he was “not forcing” the plan.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem on Thursday applauded what he said was a “clear retreat” from the US proposal for Gaza.

“Trump’s statements regarding not expelling Gaza’s residents are welcome,” he told AFP.

US allies were also among the critics of Trump’s idea.

Arab states have since countered with a plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority.

“We appreciate the statements of the US president in which he confirmed that the residents of the Gaza Strip are not required to leave their homeland,” Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, an umbrella group of factions that excludes Hamas, wrote on X.

The Egyptian-led reconstruction plan was put forward by the Arab League and adopted by the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which calls itself the “collective voice of the Muslim world”.