Hamas slams Trump idea of relocating Palestinians to ‘clean out’ Gaza

Update Hamas slams Trump idea of relocating Palestinians to ‘clean out’ Gaza
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Aerial photograph showing Palestinians walking through the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive, in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo)
Update Hamas slams Trump idea of relocating Palestinians to ‘clean out’ Gaza
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Nasrallah on Friday, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 26 January 2025
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Hamas slams Trump idea of relocating Palestinians to ‘clean out’ Gaza

Hamas slams Trump idea of relocating Palestinians to ‘clean out’ Gaza
  • Islamic Jihad also reacts with fury and defiance to US president’s plan
  • The vast majority of Gaza’s people have been displaced, often multiple times

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Hamas and militant allies Islamic Jihad on Sunday reacted with fury and defiance to a plan floated by US President Donald Trump to “clean out” Gaza, where a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas aimed at permanently ending the war enters its second week.

There was no immediate reaction from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but a far-right minister welcomed Trump’s “great” idea.

Israel and Hamas accused each other of ceasefire breaches linked to the latest hostage-prisoner swap that occurred on Saturday under the truce deal that came into effect on January 19.

The swap saw four Israeli women hostages, all soldiers, and 200 Palestinian prisoners released to joyful scenes, in the second such exchange so far.

But after 15 months of war, Trump called Gaza a “demolition site” and said that he had spoken to Jordan’s King Abdullah II about moving Palestinians out of the territory.

“I’d like Egypt to take people. And I’d like Jordan to take people,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that he expected to talk to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Sunday.

Most Gazans are Palestinian refugees or their descendants.

For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark historical memories of what the Arab world calls the “Nakba” or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation 75 years ago.

Egypt has previously warned against any “forced displacement” of Palestinians from Gaza into the Sinai desert, which El-Sisi said could jeopardize the peace treaty Egypt signed with Israel in 1979.




File photo showing US Air Force weapons loaders preparing a 2,000-pound bomb for loading into a B-1 bomber during the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. (AFP)

Jordan is already home to around 2.3 million registered Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations.

“You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said of Gaza, whose population is about 2.4 million.

“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,” Trump said, adding that moving Gaza’s inhabitants could be “temporarily or could be long term.”

Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said that Palestinians would “foil such projects” as they have done to similar plans “for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades.”

Gazans, he said, “will not accept any offers or solutions, even if their apparent intentions are good under the banner of reconstruction, as proposed by US President Trump.”

Islamic Jihad, which fought alongside Hamas in Gaza, called Trump’s idea “deplorable” and said that it encourages “war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land.”

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who opposed the Gaza truce deal, said that Trump’s suggestion of “helping them find other places to start a better life is a great idea.”

He added: “Only out-of-the-box thinking with new solutions will bring a solution of peace and security.”

The vast majority of Gaza’s people have been displaced, often multiple times, by the Gaza war that began after Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The United Nations says close to 70 percent of the territory’s buildings are damaged or destroyed.

A last-minute dispute on Saturday prevented the expected return of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza.

On Sunday, cars and carts loaded with belongings lined up near the blocked Netzarim Corridor that they would cross to enter the north.

Israel announced it would prevent Palestinians’ passage to the north until the release of Arbel Yehud, a civilian woman hostage who Netanyahu’s office said “was supposed to be released” on Saturday.

On Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said that Hamas had committed two ceasefire violations during the latest exchange. Not releasing Yehud was one, and the group also did not provide “the detailed list of all hostages’ statuses,” the office said.

Hamas later on Sunday said that blocking returns to the north amounts to a truce violation and said it has provided “all the necessary guarantees” for Yehud’s release.

Israel has also reached a ceasefire with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the health ministry on Sunday said Israeli troops killed three residents and wounded 44 as hundreds of people tried to return to their homes on the deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from the area.

During the first phase of the Gaza truce, 33 hostages should be freed in staggered releases over six weeks in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

A total of seven hostages and 289 Palestinians have so far been freed, as well as one Jordanian prisoner freed by Israel.

The truce has brought a surge of food, fuel, medicines and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza, but the UN says “the humanitarian situation remains dire.”

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war, 87 remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive killed at least 47,283 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.


France confident Lebanon can form government representing the country’s diversity

Updated 5 sec ago
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France confident Lebanon can form government representing the country’s diversity

France confident Lebanon can form government representing the country’s diversity
The spokesman said that France hopes the Lebanese prime minister will find a formula to resolve the impasse

PARIS: France has full confidence that Lebanese authorities can form a government that can bring together the Lebanese people in all their diversity, a French foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday.
Asked about US red lines over Hezbollah’s presence in the Lebanese government, he said that France hopes the Lebanese prime minister will find a formula to resolve the impasse.
The United States has set a “red line” that Shiite armed group Hezbollah should not be a member of Lebanon’s next government after its military defeat by Israel last year, USdeputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said in Lebanon on Friday.

Israeli victims will continue to work with ICC after US sanctions, says lawyer

Israeli victims will continue to work with ICC after US sanctions, says lawyer
Updated 9 min 24 sec ago
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Israeli victims will continue to work with ICC after US sanctions, says lawyer

Israeli victims will continue to work with ICC after US sanctions, says lawyer
  • Israeli families want to continue engaging with it as part of efforts to seek justice, said lawyer Yael Vias Gvirsman
  • “Victims are ever more committed to have direct contact with the court and to pursue the justice they deserve“

THE HAGUE: Israeli victims of the Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war will still work with the International Criminal Court even after US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the tribunal, a lawyer for victims and victims’ families said on Friday.
The sanctions are in retaliation for the court’s issuing of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant, who are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The ICC’s prosecutor is also investigating the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Prosecutors sought arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders for the crimes, but they were all killed in the past 16 months of war in Gaza, according to Israel and Hamas.
While sanctions will complicate dealings with the ICC, the Israeli families want to continue engaging with it as part of efforts to seek justice, said Yael Vias Gvirsman, a lawyer who represents over 350 victims and families of victims.
“Sanctions could complicate the communications channels between Israeli citizens and the court, but victims are ever more committed to have direct contact with the court and to pursue the justice they deserve,” Gvirsman said in an interview with Reuters.
The Gaza conflict has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians since October 2023, the Gaza health ministry says.
The US sanctions, which focus on punishing the court for investigating Israeli officials, can also affect the prosecution’s probe into crimes committed by Hamas, says Vias Gvirsman.
“It will be a dilemma for the court how to engage with Israeli citizens and assess if contact with the court endangers them,” she said.


US has set ‘red line’ that Hezbollah not join Lebanese govt, envoy says

US has set ‘red line’ that Hezbollah not join Lebanese govt, envoy says
Updated 39 min 45 sec ago
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US has set ‘red line’ that Hezbollah not join Lebanese govt, envoy says

US has set ‘red line’ that Hezbollah not join Lebanese govt, envoy says

Beirut: The United States has set a “red line” that Shiite armed group Hezbollah should not be a member of Lebanon’s next government after its military defeat by Israel last year, US deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said in Lebanon on Friday.
Ortagus is the first senior US official to visit Lebanon since US President Donald Trump took office and since Joseph Aoun was elected president in Lebanon.
Her visit comes amid a stalled cabinet formation process in Lebanon, where government posts are apportioned on sectarian lines. Hezbollah’s ally Amal has insisted on approving all Shiite Muslim ministers, keeping the process in deadlock.
Speaking to reporters after meeting President Aoun, Ortagus said she was “not afraid” of Iran-backed Hezbollah “because they’ve been defeated militarily,” referring to last year’s war between the group and Israel.
“And we have set clear red lines from the United States that they won’t be able to terrorize the Lebanese people, and that includes by being a part of the government,” she said.
Ortagus had been widely expected to deliver a tough message to Lebanese officials about Hezbollah, which was battered by months of Israeli air strikes and ground operations in southern Lebanon last year.
Fighting ended in late November with a ceasefire brokered by the United States and France that set a deadline of 60 days for Israel to withdraw from south Lebanon, Hezbollah to pull out its fighters and arms and Lebanese troops to deploy to the area.
That deadline was extended to Feb. 18. Ortagus referred to the new date on Friday but did not explicitly say the Israeli army (IDF) would withdraw from Lebanese territory.
“February 18 will be the date for redeployment, when the IDF troops will finish their redeployment, and of course, the (Lebanese) troops will come in behind them, so we are very committed to that firm date,” she said.
Ortagus is expected to meet Lebanese prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam, Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri — who also heads Amal — and make a trip to southern Lebanon with the Lebanese army


Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast

Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast
Updated 07 February 2025
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Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast

Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast
  • Abu Yusuf Al-Muhammadi Al-Hadrami died when a motorcycle packed with explosives detonated near where he worked in Marib

Dubai: A senior member of Al-Qaeda in Yemen has been killed in a bomb blast, according to a statement from the extremist group behind a string of high-profile attacks.
Abu Yusuf Al-Muhammadi Al-Hadrami died when a motorcycle packed with explosives detonated near where he worked in Marib, east of the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
Washington regards the group, known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), as most dangerous branch of group
Born in 2009, AQAP grew and developed in the chaos of Yemen’s war.
It has been responsible for multiple attacks, including the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Aden, which killed 17 US military personnel.
In 2015, AQAP claimed that two French gunmen who massacred 12 people in an attack on the Paris offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine were acting on its behalf.


US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW

US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW
Updated 07 February 2025
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US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW

US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW
  • On January 24, four days after US President Donald Trump returned to power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a letter asking them to cease all activities

Beirut: Human Rights Watch warned Friday that US aid suspensions could worsen “life-threatening conditions” in camps holding relatives of suspected Daesh terrorists in northeast Syria, urging Washington to maintain support.
Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the region still hold around 56,000 people with alleged or perceived links to the Daesh group, years after the jihadists’ territorial defeat.
They include jihadist suspects locked up in prisons, as well as the wives and children of IS fighters held in the Al-Hol and Roj internment camps.
“The US government’s suspension of foreign aid to non-governmental organizations operating in these camps is exacerbating life-threatening conditions, risking further destabilization of a precarious security situation,” HRW said in a statement.
The rights group said the aid freeze could “limit provision of essential services for camp residents,” citing international humanitarian workers.
On January 24, four days after US President Donald Trump returned to power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a first letter asking them to cease all activities funded by the agency.
A week later, another letter, seen by AFP, authorized them to resume certain missions intended for “life-saving humanitarian assistance.”
The orders have left aid groups in the northeast “unsure how to proceed with deliveries of essential goods, like kerosene and water, further exacerbating pre-existing shortages,” the statement said.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio should continue US assistance to organizations providing essential lifesaving assistance in northeast Syria,” the group said.
Following the January 24 order, HRW said Blumont, an organization responsible for camp management in Al Hol and Roj, suspended activities and withdrew all staff, including guards.
A few days later, the group received a two-week exemption allowing it to work.
Al-Hol is northeast Syria’s largest internment camp, with more than 40,000 detainees from 47 countries.
The vast majority of Al-Hol and Roj residents are women and children living in dire conditions.
HRW also said that “any political settlement in the region should include ending the arbitrary detention of those with alleged Daesh ties and their families.”
“Thousands of lives, many of them children, are hanging in the balance, and the indefensible status quo of the last six years should not be allowed to continue,” said Hiba Zayadin of Human Rights Watch.
The call comes amid talks between Syria’s new authorities and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over the group’s future and as clashes rage in the north between the Kurdish-led group and Turkish-backed factions.