‘No one can take our land away,’ Gazans tell Trump after he suggests enclave is 'cleaned out'

US President said population of Gaza should find homes in Egypt or Jordan in comments made on Air Force One

Displaced Palestinians make their way back to their homes in northern Gaza as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues to hold, near Gaza city on Monday. Bloomberg

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Palestinians in Gaza have responded with defiance to a claim by US President Donald Trump that they should leave the enclave and live elsewhere, little more than a week into a fragile ceasefire between militant group Hamas and Israel.

The task to rebuild the strip, pounded for 15 months by Israel, is colossal. More than 90 per cent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have been displaced, the UN estimates, many of those several times, as Israel issued eviction orders over much of the territory.

The US President suggested Gaza be "cleaned out" and its population housed in Egypt or Jordan "temporarily, or could be long-term", in comments made on Air Force One.

“I’d like Egypt to take people, and I’d like Jordan to take people,” Mr Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, we just clean out that whole thing."

"I'd rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change," he said on Saturday. Jordan and Egypt rejected the premise of the idea, reaffirming the need for Palestinians to retain their homeland.

A ceasefire which began on January 19 entered a new phase this week, as Gazans forced to flee south during the conflict were on Monday allowed to return to the north of the enclave, an area previously under siege by Israeli forces.

Foreign security personnel observe displaced Palestinians as they return from the south to their homes in northern Gaza. Reuters

"The sight of people returning to their homeland is a powerful message, particularly in response to Trump," said Gaza resident Ali Hassouna, 29. "These individuals are fully aware that they are returning to rubble and destruction, yet they insist on sending a clear message to the world: when you have a rightful claim to something, no one – neither America nor Israel – can take it away.”

The opening up of a return to the north was delayed for two days over a row in which Israel accused Hamas of changing the order of the hostages it released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli jails. Mediators resolved the dispute overnight.

For many, returning to their homes, even if destroyed, was an act of resistance. “Let Trump say whatever he wants” said another Gaza resident Mahmoud Zebda, 50. "We didn’t leave Gaza when bombs were falling over our heads – why would we leave now that the war has ended?"

Satellite image analysis by academics from Oregon State University and the City University of New York found almost 60 per cent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged since October 2023, when the war began after Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting about 250, taking them into Gaza. UN analysis estimates that nine in 10 homes are destroyed.

The resulting war has killed more than 47,000 people.

For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the "Nakba" or "catastrophe" – the mass displacement of Palestinians which led to Israel's creation in 1948.

Naser Mufrej, professor of finance and economics at the Arab American University in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, told The National the cost of rebuilding the Gaza Strip could reach as much as $40 billion to $50 billion, spent over a decade.

But stability and immediate health needs must be met. Under the terms of the ceasefire, 600 lorries can enter each day but they contain mostly food and medical supplies rather than materials to begin clearing the millions of tonnes of rubble left behind.

Gazans described digging with their bare hands to reach the remains of loved ones in bombed-out homes, or finding skeletal remains in areas previously prohibited for entry by Israel.

“The situation in Gaza is incredibly challenging. Basic necessities of life are scarce and we are forced to start from scratch," said Mr Zebda. "However, we cannot do this alone – we need support from others to help us rise again. Our primary hopes are for safety and the opportunity to rebuild Gaza.”

The Arab League likened Mr Trump's latest comments to "ethnic cleansing," while Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, said it would "foil" any such idea.

Mr Hassouna says Gazans must be allowed to reconstruct their homeland on their own terms. “We will rebuild it. This is our land and we are its children. We understand it and it understands us. This land will never accept any nation other than us.”