Trump's Gaza 'clean-out' plan sparks outrage, Palestinian leaders vow to defend their land

Palestinian leaders on Sunday (Jan 26) vehemently condemned US President Donald Trump's proposal to "clean out" Gaza by evacuating its 2.4 million residents, vowing resistance to any efforts to forcibly displace residents of the war-battered territory.

The newly inaugurated US President Trump on Saturday (Jan 25) called Gaza a "demolition site," and revealed that he had discussed plans to move Palestinians out with regional leaders, including Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

"You're talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing," he told reporters aboard Air Force One.

"I'd like Egypt to take people. And I'd like Jordan to take people," he said, adding that such relocations could be "temporarily or could be long term".  

While the far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich lauded the plan as "a great idea," others pointed to its disastrous implications. 

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian National Authority, firmly denounced the proposal, warning against any attempt to uproot Palestinians. The leader "expressed strong rejection and condemnation of any projects" said his office.

The Arab League too in a statement warned against "attempts to uproot the Palestinian people from their land".

"The forced displacement and eviction of people from their land can only be called ethnic cleansing, " it said in a statement.

Hamas vowed resistance, with its official Bassem Naim stating that they would "foil such projects", as they have done to similar plans "for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades".

Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza, called the US President's idea "deplorable".

The idea also drew sharp rebukes from across the Arab world. Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said "our rejection of the displacement of Palestinians is firm and will not change. Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians."

Egypt also rejected any infringement on Palestinians' "inalienable rights".