Trump plan would ‘squash’ ceasefire, says Egypt
Trump’s proposal for the US to take control of Gaza would “squash” the ceasefire and “incite a return of fighting”, Egypt has said.
The plan Trump has put forward would involve some of Gaza’s roughly two million residents being displaced into Egypt, which shares a border with the territory.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the country’s military to prepare a plan to allow for the “voluntary departure” of people from Gaza, local media reported.
Apparently referring to the order, Egypt’s foreign ministry said: “Egypt stresses the catastrophic consequences of this irresponsible act which weakens the ceasefire negotiations, and would squash them and incite a return of fighting.”
Egypt, along with Qatar and the US, helped broker the ceasefire deal that brought a halt to the fighting in Gaza last month.
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Updated at 17.15 GMT
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President Trump’s proposal to resettle people from Gaza in Jordan could undermine the country’s national security and is not something it can entertain, officials and former officials in the Jordanian government have said.
King Abdullah II of Jordan is due to travel to Washington for talks with Trump next week.
One senior official told Reuters the king had made a series of calls to gather support from regional players Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar ahead of the meeting.
“This is the biggest test in ties with our strategic ally,” the official said.
One official added: “We hope we won’t see thousands of Palestinians streaming across the border trying to enter the Kingdom but we are prepared.
“Jordan will always be ready to do whatever it needs to protect its national security.”
Marwan Muasher is a former Jordanian foreign minister who helped negotiate Jordan’s 1994 peace treaty with Israel.
“This is existential,” he said. “There is very strong public opposition, and it’s not something Jordan can entertain.
“This is not an economic or a security issue for Jordan. It’s an identity issue.”
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Updated at 17.39 GMT
King Abdullah II of Jordan is in London and has met with King Charles at Buckingham Palace.
It comes at a time of increased international focus on Jordan following President Trump’s proposal that residents of Gaza could be resettled in the country.
Pictures show the two kings embracing at the start of the meeting, which Jordan’s Petra news agency said was used to discuss historic ties between their kingdoms.
King Abdullah is set to travel to Washington for talks with Trump next week.
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Death toll in Gaza now 47,583, says Hamas-run health ministry
The number of people killed in Gaza since the Israeli ground invasion began after 7 October attacks now stands at 47,583, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The ministry’s latest daily update also said a total of 111,633 have now been injured.
Last week, Christian Lindmeier, a spokesperson for the World Health Organisation, said the agency considered the ministry’s figures reliable, adding that the tallies only included casualties counted in officials facilities like hospitals and so were probably an underestimate.
“As people go back to their houses, as they will start looking for their loved ones under the rubble, this casualty figure is expected to increase,” she said.
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Updated at 17.15 GMT
“They make a desert and call it peace,” said Tacitus, paraphrasing Calgacus.
Israel, meanwhile, has made a graveyard of Gaza, and Donald Trump is calling it a real estate opportunity. The president, as you will know, has decided the US should just take over the Gaza Strip.
As for the Palestinians who are inconveniently there at the moment? According to Trump, they can just be moved somewhere else. They can be dumped in Jordan or Egypt or Saudi Arabia. They won’t mind. Those Arabs are all the same anyway.
The fact that the president is being so blunt, so open, about what he wants to do is shocking. But the idea that the US and Israel might want to get rid of all the Palestinians in the strip should hardly come as a shock to anyone.
This, after all, is in effect what Israel’s politicians and pundits, along with Israel’s supporters, have been saying all along: they want to make Gaza unliveable and get all the Palestinians out.
Read Arwa Mahdawi’s full piece here:
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Updated at 17.15 GMT
Trump plan would ‘squash’ ceasefire, says Egypt
Trump’s proposal for the US to take control of Gaza would “squash” the ceasefire and “incite a return of fighting”, Egypt has said.
The plan Trump has put forward would involve some of Gaza’s roughly two million residents being displaced into Egypt, which shares a border with the territory.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the country’s military to prepare a plan to allow for the “voluntary departure” of people from Gaza, local media reported.
Apparently referring to the order, Egypt’s foreign ministry said: “Egypt stresses the catastrophic consequences of this irresponsible act which weakens the ceasefire negotiations, and would squash them and incite a return of fighting.”
Egypt, along with Qatar and the US, helped broker the ceasefire deal that brought a halt to the fighting in Gaza last month.
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Updated at 17.15 GMT
Russia has called President Trump’s proposal for Gaza “counterproductive” and accused him of fuelling “tension in the region”.
“The main thing now is to provide the necessary humanitarian assistance to all those in need,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.
“We believe that the main task today is to ensure the implementation of agreements between Israel and Hamas.
“Any populist, frivolous, or shocking arguments about any other palliative measures at the present stage are counterproductive and do not contribute to solving the problem, but only fuel tension in the region and to all the already extremely aggravated problems.”
Zakharova has become known to Western audiences in recent years as one of the Russian government’s most public defenders of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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Updated at 17.15 GMT
We have more now on that call from Hamas for a summit of Arab countries in response to President Trump’s proposal for the US to take control of Gaza.
In a statement, spokesman Hazem Qassem called the plan “absolutely unacceptable”.
“Gaza is for its people and they will not leave,” he said.
“We call for the convening of an emergency Arab summit to confront the displacement project.”
He said Trump’s remarks “amount to an open declaration of intent to occupy the territory”.
“We do not need any country to run the Gaza Strip and we do not accept replacing one occupation with another,” he said.
“We call on the Arab peoples and international organisations to take strong action to reject the Trump project.”
Earlier today, Trump doubled down on the proposal, saying the residents of Gaza could be “resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region” and would “actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free”.
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Updated at 17.15 GMT
An envoy for President Trump is expected to demand that the influence of Hezbollah over the new Lebanese government be curbed.
Morgan Ortagus, deputy special envoy for the Middle East, is leading a US delegation to Lebanon and is set to meet with the country’s leaders on Thursday.
She will tell them Lebanon faces deeper political and economic isolation unless it works to eliminate corruption and limit the influence of Hezbollah, Reuters reports, citing a senior US official, a Western diplomat, and regional government sources.
Senior posts in the Lebanese government are apportioned between the country’s religious communities.
Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam is currently forming a new government, and has so far allowed Hezbollah, which with its allies holds a significant number of parliamentary seats, to nominate four out of five allotted Shia ministers.
Hezbollah, which has long fought with Israel across Lebanon’s southern border, has suffered heavy losses in Israeli strikes in recent months, including the assassination of much of its leadership.
The US official insisted that Washington was not “picking” individual cabinet members, but added: “It’s important for us to set the tone for what we believe a new Lebanon should look like going forward.
“It’s a new day for Lebanon. Hezbollah was defeated, and the new government needs to match that new reality.”
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Updated at 17.15 GMT
Hamas calls for Arab summit over Trump Gaza plan
Hamas has called for an urgent summit of the Arab countries following President Trump’s proposal that the US should “take over” Gaza.
The group, which led the 7 October attacks, earlier said it “categorically rejects” the proposal.
We’ll bring you more on that as it comes in.
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Updated at 17.15 GMT
Summary of the day so far
It is approaching 4.30pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv, and 6pm in Tehran. Here is a summary of the day so far:
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz ordered the army on Thursday to prepare a plan to allow the “voluntary departure” of residents from the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported. The instruction followed US president Donald Trump’s shock announcement that the US plans to take over Gaza, resettle the Palestinians living there and transform the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
When asked who will take in the Palestinians, Katz said it should be countries who have opposed Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Katz added Spain, Ireland and Norway, which last year recognised a Palestinian state, are “legally obligated to allow any Gaza resident to enter their territories”.
Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares on Thursday rejected the suggestion by Katz that Spain should accept displaced Palestinians from Gaza. “Gazans’ land is Gaza and Gaza must be part of the future Palestinian state,” Albares said in an interview with Spanish radio station RNE.
Speaking on behalf of the Palestinian president’s office, spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Palestinian territories were “not for sale” and “not an investment project”. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, he said:“Palestine, with its land, history and holy sites, is not for sale, and is not an investment project. The rights of the Palestinian people are not negotiable and are not a bargaining chip.”
Trump said the “Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting”, in a post on the Truth Social platform on Thursday. He said the US would work with “great development teams from all over the world” and “would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth”. He added: “No soldiers by the US would be needed.”
Hamas called on all Palestinian factions to unite against Trump’s proposal. Hamas added that it “categorically rejects” Trump’s remarks and Palestinians will not leave Gaza.
Far-right Israeli politicians supported Katz’s orders for the army to prepare a plan to allow the “voluntary departure” of residents from the Gaza Strip, reported the Times of Israel. Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich congratulated Katz on instructing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and rival far-right leader Itamar Ben-Gvir called Katz’s orders an “important step”.
UK Foreign Office minister Anneliese Dodds told parliament on Thursday that the UK will oppose any efforts to move Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to neighbouring Arab states against their will. Replying to an urgent question, Dodds told the House of Commons: “There must be no forced displacement of Palestinians nor any reduction in the territory of the Gaza Strip.”
Dodds said the UK government was also “concerned” about the Israeli government’s “expansion of war aims and operations” in the West Bank. She said: “The UK remains opposed to illegal settlements, their expansion and settler violence.”
Pakistan’s government said that Trump’s proposal to displace the people of Gaza is “deeply troubling and unjust”. It added that “Palestinian land belongs to Palestinian people” and the only viable and just option would be a two-state solution.
Iran categorically rejected Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Thursday. “The plan to clear Gaza and relocate Palestinians to neighbouring countries is considered a continuation of the Zionist regime’s (Israel) plan to completely wipe out the Palestinian people,” Baghaei wrote on X. Baghaei called upon the UN security council and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to take a clear stance explicitly rejecting Trump’s announcement.
China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that Beijing opposed the forced transfer of people in Gaza. “Gaza is the Gaza of Palestinians, not a political bargaining chip, let alone the target of a law of the jungle,” ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular press briefing.
Hezbollah and its allied group the Amal Movement issued a joint statement in which they condemned what they described as the “racist” and “malicious” statements by US president Donald Trump over Gaza, reported Lebanon’s National News Agency.
Malaysia said on Thursday it “strongly opposes” any plan to forcibly resettle Palestinians from Gaza. “Malaysia strongly opposes any proposal that could lead to the forced displacement or movement of Palestinians from their homeland,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Israel informed the United Nations human rights council (UNHRC) on Thursday that it would be formally withdrawing from the body. In a message posted to social media, foreign minister Gideon Saar said: “The decision was reached in light of the ongoing and unrelenting institutional bias against Israel in the human rights council, which has been persistent since its inception in 2006.” Donald Trump confirmed earlier this week he was withdrawing the US from the United Nations human rights council, as he had done so during his first term in office.
The United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories said on Thursday that Israel’s decision to withdraw from the UN human rights council was “extremely serious”. “It shows the hubris and the lack of realisation of what they have done. They insist in self-righteousness, that they have nothing to be held accountable for, and they are proving it to the entire international community,” Francesca Albanese told Reuters.
An Israeli military court sentenced a soldier to seven months in prison after he admitted to “severely abusing” Palestinians at a detention facility near the border with Gaza, the army said on Thursday. “The defendant was convicted for several incidents in which he punched the detainees with his fists and used his weapon while they were handcuffed and blindfolded,” the army said in a statement.
The healthcare system in the occupied West Bank has been in “a state of perpetual emergency” since October 2023, Doctors Without Borders said in a new report published on Thursday. “A dramatic escalation in violence, marked by prolonged Israeli military incursions and stricter movement restrictions … have severely hindered access to essential services, particularly healthcare, exacerbating already dire living conditions for many Palestinians,” it said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said its teams are providing relief support to families in the Tulkarm refugee camp. In a post on X on Thursday, the PRCS said: “Our teams continue to provide relief support to the families in #Tulkarm camp, despite the ongoing siege by the occupation for the tenth consecutive day, amid systematic destruction of infrastructure, including roads and streets.”
Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian said it would be easy to verify Iran was not developing atomic weapons, state TV reported on Thursday, a day after US president Donald Trump said he would like to have a verified nuclear peace agreement with Tehran. Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon as the mass killing of innocent people is prohibited in the Islamic Republic’s doctrine, Pezeshkian said in a televised meeting with foreign ambassadors in Tehran.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards unveiled the country’s first drone carrier on Thursday in Gulf waters, state media reported. The carrier, called the Martyr Bahman Bagheri, is a commercial vessel that was repurposed as a drone carrier over the past two-and-a-half years, Guards naval commander Alireza Tangsiri said during the unveiling ceremony.
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Updated at 17.15 GMT
Israeli soldier jailed for seven months for abusing Palestinian detainees
An Israeli military court sentenced a soldier to seven months in prison after he admitted to “severely abusing” Palestinians at a detention facility near the border with Gaza, the army said on Thursday.
“The defendant was convicted for several incidents in which he punched the detainees with his fists and used his weapon while they were handcuffed and blindfolded,” the army said in a statement, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
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