Closing summary
This blog will be closing shortly. Here’s a recap of the day’s developments:
A proposal by Donald Trump that the US could “take over” the Gaza Strip and that the Palestinians could live in “peace and harmony” elsewhere has sparked widespread international condemnation. Trump insisted on Wednesday that “everybody loves” his proposal.
Trump’s top diplomat, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and spokesperson, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, appeared to backtrack from his proposal that he wants a permanent relocation of Palestinians from Gaza. “The president has made it clear that they need to be temporarily relocated out of Gaza,” Leavitt said during a White House briefing. Rubio said the idea “was not meant as hostile”, describing it as a “generous move – the offer to rebuild and to be in charge of the rebuilding”.
Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, reportedly said the US president does not want to put any American troops into Gaza. “Witkoff said that the president doesn’t want to put any troops into Gaza, and that he doesn’t want to spend any US money on Gaza,” the Republican senator for Missouri, Josh Hawley, said, according to the Washington Post.
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon is prepared to look at “all options” when it comes to Gaza. Hegseth made the comments on Wednesday before meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Gaza was “an integral part of the State of Palestine” and that “we will not allow the rights of our people … to be infringed on”.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned against “any form of ethnic cleansing”, adding that it is “vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law”. The UN chief said that any durable peace will require a “tangible, irreversible and permanent” progress toward the two state solution as well as the establishment of an “independent Palestinian state with Gaza as an integral part”.
An EU spokesperson said Gaza is an “integral part” of a future Palestinian state, and that the bloc remains “fully committed” to a two-state solution.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer said the Palestinians “must be allowed to rebuild” and pursue a two-state solution, while the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said Gaza belongs to Palestinians and their expulsion would be “unacceptable and contrary to international law”.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry rejected “any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land” while the Egyptian foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, expressed support for recovery projects in Gaza without Palestinians leaving the territory.
The UN said forcible deportation of people from occupied territory is “strictly prohibited” under international law, while Human Rights Watch said the policy would be a “moral abomination”. Amnesty International condemned Donald Trump’s comments as “inflammatory, outrageous and shameful”. International law experts said it could amount to a war crime or crime against humanity.
Israel’s far-right former national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who resigned last month in protest over the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, said that “encouraging” Palestinians to leave Gaza was the only correct strategy to end the war and urged the Israeli government to pursue the policy “immediately”.
The estimated death toll in Gaza since the start of Israeli operations in the territory after the 7 October attacks reached 47,552, according to the Palestinian ministry of health on Wednesday.
Updated
Australian opposition leader Peter Dutton has praised Donald Trump as a “big thinker” in response to the US president’s calls for America to take over Gaza in what would probably be a breach of international law, saying he brought “gravitas” to international affairs.
Dutton claimed Trump’s incendiary remarks could be a negotiating tactic to get other countries in the Middle East to “step up” and help rebuild the Palestinian territory devastated by Israeli bombing.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, meanwhile continued to avoid commenting directly on the situation on Thursday, saying he believed it was prudent to sometimes “sit back” and not comment on all of Trump’s claims.
