Egypt says rejects forced displacement of Palestinians

Palestinians, who were forcibly displaced as a result of Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip for more than 15 months, continue to wait at a point close to the Netzarim Corridor on al-Rashid Street to return to their homes in the north after the completion of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza City, Gaza, January 26, 2025. /CFP

Egypt on Sunday rejected the forced displacement of Palestinians after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested to "clean out" the Gaza Strip and move its population to Egypt and Jordan.

The Egyptian foreign ministry in a statement expressed "continued support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land."

It said it rejected "any infringement on those inalienable rights, whether by settlement or annexation of land, or by the depopulation of that land of its people through displacement, encouraged transfer or the uprooting of Palestinians from their land, whether temporarily or long-term."

After 15 months of war, Trump said Gaza had become a "demolition site" and he would "like Egypt to take people, and I'd like Jordan to take people."

Both countries have since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023 warned of plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza into neighboring Egypt, and from the West Bank into Jordan.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, with whom Trump said he would speak on Sunday, has repeatedly warned that said displacement would aim to "eradicate the cause for Palestinian statehood."

Sisi has described the prospect as a "red line" that would threaten Egypt's national security.

The Egyptian foreign ministry on Sunday urged the implementation of the "two-state solution," which Cairo has said would become impossible if Palestinians were removed from their territories.

Source(s): AFP