Donald Trump’s proposal for the US to “take over” Gaza and remove much of its Palestinian population has sparked a fierce global backlash – with residents of the besieged territory making clear that if 15 months of brutal war was not enough to make them leave, the US president’s bullish rhetoric means nothing.
Arab nations across the Middle East and Europe moved swiftly to condemn Mr Trump’s remarks from the White House, where he said that the US “will take over the Gaza Strip” with a “a long-term ownership position” – estimating that about 1.8 million of the near-2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza would have to be relocated to achieve his vision of turning what he called a “hell hole” into “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
