THURSDAY March 13, 2025 |TheNewsDESK
By Idorenyin UMOREN
With inputs from i24News
Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, expressed his satisfaction on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, following United States, US, President Donald Trump’s comments regarding Palestinians not being forcibly removed from the Gaza Strip.
“If Trump’s words represent a step back from any idea of expelling Gaza residents, then these statements are welcome,” Qassem said in a statement.
The spokesman also called for “continuing in this direction” and to “force Israel to implement all the terms of the cease-fire.”
This reaction follows Trump’s intervention during a meeting with Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris. When asked about his “expulsion plan” for Gazans to make way for his “Riviera of the Middle East,” Trump firmly said that “no one will be expelling anyone from Gaza.”
These remarks contrast with the plan for Gaza presented by Trump during a recent press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This project proposed American “ownership” of the Palestinian enclave after the war and the relocation of residents to countries such as Jordan and Egypt.
Arab nations have categorically rejected this proposal, preferring an Egyptian reconstruction initiative estimated at $53 billion. However, the Trump administration has said that the Egyptian plan “does not meet the expectations” set by President Trump.
The Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had previously urged the international community to support the reconstruction of Gaza without forcing its inhabitants to leave their territory.
