Gaza
\nPresident Donald Trump said on Monday that Hamas should release all hostages held by the militant group in Gaza by midday Saturday or he would propose canceling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and \u201clet hell break out.\u201d
\nTrump cautioned that Israel might want to override him on the issue and said he might speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
\nBut in a wide-ranging session with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump expressed frustration with the condition of the last group of hostages freed by Hamas and by the announcement by the militant group that it would halt further releases.
\n\u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, if all of the hostages aren\u2019t returned by Saturday at 12 o\u2019clock, I think it\u2019s an appropriate time. I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I\u2019d say they ought to be returned by 12 o\u2019clock on Saturday,\u201d Trump said.
\nHe said he wanted the hostages released en masse, instead of a few at a time. \u201cWe want \u2019em all back.\u201d
\nTrump also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they don\u2019t take Palestinian refugees being relocated from Gaza. He is to meet Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah on Tuesday.
\nThe comments came on a day of some confusion over Trump\u2019s proposal for a U.S. takeover of Gaza once the fighting stops.
\nHe said Palestinians would not have the right of return to the Gaza Strip under his proposal to redevelop the enclave, contradicting his own officials who had suggested Gazans would only be relocated temporarily.
\nIn an excerpt of an interview with Fox News channel\u2019s Bret Baier broadcast on Monday, Trump added that he thought he could make a deal with Jordan and Egypt to take the displaced Palestinians, saying the U.S. gives the two countries \u201cbillions and billions of dollars a year.\u201d
\nAsked if Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza, Trump said: \u201cNo, they wouldn\u2019t because they\u2019re going to have much better housing.\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m talking about building a permanent place for them,\u201d he said, adding it would take years for Gaza to be habitable again.
\nIn a shock announcement on Feb. 4 after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, Trump proposed resettling Gaza\u2019s 2.2 million Palestinians and the U.S. taking control of the seaside enclave, redeveloping it into the \u201cRiviera of the Middle East.\u201d
\nIgnite the region
\nTrump\u2019s suggestion of Palestinian displacement has been repeatedly rejected by Gaza residents and Arab states, and labeled by rights advocates and the United Nations as a proposal of ethnic cleansing.
\nSenior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Trump\u2019s statement that Palestinians would not be able to return to Gaza was \u201cirresponsible.\u201d
\n\u201cWe affirm that such plans are capable of igniting the region,\u201d he told Reuters on Monday.
\nNetanyahu, who praised the proposal, suggested Palestinians would be allowed to return. \u201cThey can leave, they can then come back, they can relocate and come back. But you have to rebuild Gaza,\u201d he said the day after Trump\u2019s announcement.
\nU.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will depart later this week for his first visit to the Middle East in the office, said on Thursday that Palestinians would have to \u201clive somewhere else in the interim,\u201d during reconstruction, although he declined to explicitly rule out their permanent displacement.
\nThe State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the disparity between Rubio and Trump\u2019s most recent remarks on the plan.
\nTrump\u2019s comments come as a fragile ceasefire reached last month between Israel and Hamas is at risk of collapse after Hamas announced on Monday it would stop releasing Israeli hostages over alleged Israeli violations of the agreement.
\nIsrael\u2019s Arab neighbors, including Egypt and Jordan, have said any plan to transfer Palestinians from their land would destabilize the region.
\nRubio met Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in Washington on Monday. Egypt\u2019s foreign ministry said Abdelatty told Rubio that Arab countries support Palestinians in rejecting Trump\u2019s plan. Cairo fears Palestinians could be forced across Egypt\u2019s border with Gaza.
\nTrump said in the Fox News interview that between two and six communities could be built for the Palestinians \u201ca little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is.\u201d \u201cI would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gaza President Donald Trump said on Monday that Hamas should release all hostages held by the militant group in Gaza by midday Saturday or he would propose canceling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and \u201clet hell break out.\u201d Trump cautioned that Israel might want to override him on the issue and said he might speak to Israeli […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-461032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n