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Trump suggests permanently resettling Palestinians outside Gaza

During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday, President Trump said he hoped to see Palestinians permanently settle outside of Gaza.
Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu
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President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, in the first face-to-face meeting between President Trump and Netanyahu since Trump returned to power last month. Netanyahu is also the first foreign leader to visit the White House since President Trump returned to office.

Speaking to reporters in the White House, President Trump suggested that Palestinians should resettle outside Gaza permanently.

"If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza," President Trump said.

The president indicated he hoped neighboring countries of Egypt and Jordan would be open to accepting Palestinian refugee settlements.

"Gaza is a guarantee that they're going to end up dying. The same thing's going to happen again. It's happened over and over again," President Trump said. "I hope that we can do something where they wouldn't want to go back, who wouldn't want to go back, they experienced nothing but death and destruction."

The meeting comes amid an ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which both leaders sounded optimism for on Tuesday.

During the ceasefire, Israel has handed over hundreds of prisoners in exchange for some of the hostages Hamas has held captive since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack.

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Netanyahu laid out several goals for the meeting before heading to Washington.

“In this meeting, we'll deal with important issues, critical issues facing Israel and our region, a victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages, and dealing with the Iranian terror axis and all its components, an axis that threatens the peace of Israel, the Middle East, and the entire world. And the decisions we made in the war have already changed the face of the Middle East,” Netanyahu said.

Both the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration played a role in the negotiations that led to a ceasefire.

Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, worked closely alongside former President Joe Biden's special envoy to the region to help negotiate the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

“The ceasefire was extended because of the work of President Trump and his presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, who has proven to be an incredibly effective negotiator, and the president and this entire administration are committed to having all of the hostages come home, and as you've seen, his team is working very, very hard to do that,” said Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary.

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