US President Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle Gaza’s population would only be temporary, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said. It follows Trump’s suggestion that the US could “take over” Gaza and resettle the millions of Palestinians living there – an idea that has drawn criticism from the UN, human rights groups and Arab leaders. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt further clarified Trump’s comments, saying the US was not planning to put “boots on the ground” in the territory. Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said Gazans “should be allowed to enjoy freedom of exit and immigration”, but gave few details on how this would work. On a trip to Guatemala, Marco Rubio said Trump’s proposal was not “hostile”, but a “generous move”, showing “the willingness of the United
Tag Archives: Gaza
Feb
Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it would not formalise ties with Israel unless a Palestinian state was established, after the Israeli prime minister remarked that he thought normalisation with the Gulf kingdom was “going to happen”. “Saudi Arabia will continue its relentless efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement. Both US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden have backed Israel and Saudi Arabia having diplomatic relations. Riyadh paused tentative talks on the matter early in the Gaza conflict and hardened its rhetoric as the war continued. In a shock announcement on Tuesday, Trump said the US would take over the war-ravaged Gaza Strip after
Feb
In a stunning proposal, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. will “take over” the Gaza Strip, “level the site” and rebuild it, after earlier saying Palestinians living there should leave. “They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony” in other areas or countries, he said at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out,” he said. “Create an economic development that
![Rifaat Jouda walks with his son as he enters Gaza City following a long journey from southern Gaza,on January 28, 2025 [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]](https://esbecgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Exhausted-Palestinians-arrive-in-Gaza-City-to-no-homes-killed-family.jpg)
Al-Rashid Street, Gaza City, Palestine – There are many stories among the tens of thousands of people walking along Gaza’s al-Rashid Street, heading for the north. In the crowds is a man with a white beard walking with determination alongside his family. In one hand, he carries a blanket and a few meagre possessions. In the other, he holds onto his adult son, who has Down Syndrome. Rifaat Jouda doesn’t pretend that he isn’t tired. He started his journey in the morning in southern Gaza, in Khan Younis’s al-Mawasi, where his family had been displaced for 15 months during Israel’s war on Gaza. The aim was to reach Gaza City, a journey finally possible since Israel allowed Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip to travel north on Monday, after a
![Palestinian families packing their belongings in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, January 27, 2025 [Mohamed Soulaimane/Al Jazeera]](https://esbecgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Palestinians-reject-Trumps-relocation-plan-as-they-return-to-Gazas-north.jpg)
Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip, Palestine – Saqr Maqdad and his family set out on their difficult journey back to northern Gaza late on Sunday night, hours before Israel reopened the north for the first time since the early days of its 15-month war on the Palestinian enclave, following a fragile ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Leaving behind the Khan Younis displacement camp in the south, the 31-year-old, along with his wife, and two daughters, Reema, 5, and two-year-old Rawaa, walked northward along the coastal al-Rashid road hoping to reach Beit Hanoon, the family’s hometown, at the far northern tip of the besieged territory. The Maqdad family were among an estimated 200,000 Palestinians who streamed back into the most devastated parts of the Gaza Strip on Monday, a dramatic
Jan
It’s important to understand how abuse of women is a key part of how Hamas remains in power. By SETH J. FRANTZMAN JANUARY 20, 2025 14:43 Updated: JANUARY 20, 2025 15:26 Hamas terrorists parade as they prepare to hand over hostages. (photo credit: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters) When Hamas prepared to release Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher on Sunday, they purposely choreographed the event. Large numbers of armed Hamas members formed a line around a large parking lot in the back of a row of buildings. Hundreds of men came to watch. When it was time to bring the hostages out, they were brought in a Hamas vehicle that was parked two meters from a Red Cross SUV. The hostages were then taken out of the back seat of
Nov
Palestinian youth share a bike as they cycles past buildings destroyed in previous Israeli bombardment, in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, north of Gaza City on July 3, 2024. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP) Pope Francis for the first time tackled claims of Israel’s ongoing “genocide” of Palestinians in Gaza in extracts from a forthcoming book published Sunday, urging further investigation into whether Israel’s actions meet the definition. Titled “Hope Never Disappoints. Pilgrims Towards a Better World”, the book includes his latest and most forthright intervention into the more than year-long war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide,” the pontiff wrote in extracts published on the front of Italy’s La Stampa daily on Sunday.
In the aftermath of the Israeli attack on the UN-run al-Sardi school in Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, at least 40 Palestinians lost their lives, including 14 children and nine women. The assault, which occurred in the early hours of Thursday, left 74 others wounded. An Al Jazeera investigation of the debris revealed that the weapons […]