Smotrich says working on implementing Trump plan to expel Gazans
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Far-right Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich says he is working on implementing US President Donald Trump's plans for the people of Gaza.
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Displaced Palestinians return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, January 27, 2025. (AP)
Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced his efforts to turn former US President Donald Trump's proposal regarding the people of Gaza into an "actionable policy."
According to the Israeli Times of Israel newspaper, Smotrich praised Trump's proposal to relocate a portion of Gaza's population to Jordan and Egypt, either temporarily or permanently.
Speaking to journalists ahead of the weekly meeting of his Religious Zionism party bloc in the Knesset, Smotrich stated that he was working on an "executive plan" to implement Trump's idea.
In a column by David Ignatius for The Washington Post, he criticized Trump's proposal as a significant misstep in his foreign policy approach.
Despite attempts to impose displacement plans, residents of Gaza have begun returning to areas they had fled during the recent war. This follows the ceasefire agreement that has been in effect since January 19, 2025.
'Just clean out Gaza'
US President Donald Trump suggested on Saturday a controversial plan to "just clean out" Gaza through the mass expulsion of its population to neighboring Egypt and Jordan, framing the proposal as a step toward "Middle East peace."
Labeling Gaza a "demolition site" in the aftermath of the Israeli genocide, Trump revealed he had discussed the idea with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and planned further talks with Egypt’s leadership.
"I'd like Egypt to take people. And I'd like Jordan to take people," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
He estimated that "probably a million and a half people" could be moved, adding, "We just clean out that whole thing. You know, over the centuries it's had many, many conflicts, that site. And I don't know, something has to happen."
Trump suggested "the relocations" could be temporary or potentially permanent. "It's literally a demolition site right now, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there," he remarked.
Trump proposed collaboration with Arab nations, saying, "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."
Kushner urges expulsion of people of Gaza in favor of waterfront city
In the same context, Trump's son-in-law and senior foreign policy advisor, Jared Kushner, had called in March for the mass expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the development of a waterfront in the besieged territory.
In an interview at Harvard University with Professor Tarek Masoud, Kushner advocated for the "cleaning up" of Palestinian citizens from the Gaza Strip while "Israel" carries on its genocidal war.
"Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable … if people would focus on building up livelihoods," Kushner told Masoud, Harvard University's Middle East Initiative faculty chair.
"It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but from Israel’s perspective I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up," Kushner said with ease, as he suggested the ethnic cleansing of more than two million Palestinians.
Trump's remarks also foreshadowed the stance of extremist Israeli ministers, such as Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who advocated that Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip should leave to make way for Israeli settlers, who could "make the desert bloom."
