SHANGHAI, February 5. /TASS/. The proposal by US President Donald Trump to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to other countries is based on US interests and serves the purpose of bolstering Israel, Han Jianwei, an Associate Professor of the Middle East Studies Institute at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), told TASS in an interview.

"I believe Trump’s idea is to try and find a permanent solution to the Gaza issue by transferring the Gaza population to other Arab nations and then allowing the US military, in coordination with Israel, to take control, effectively placing Gaza under full Israeli control with US support," he explained.

According to the expert, Trump pursues the goal of establishing a greater Israel with the focus on US and Israeli interests. "His plan will inevitably alarm the neighboring Arab nations as they will be forced to take in refugees from Gaza, which would involve talks and diplomatic negotiations between these nations, the United States, and Israel," Han argued.

At a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following talks in the White House on Tuesday, Trump stated that the United States is examining the possibility of administering the Palestinian enclave in the long term, which he claimed would bring stability to the Middle East.

Also, he suggested Palestinians could be resettled elsewhere in the region. Trump did not rule out sending US troops to Gaza "if it’s necessary."

The situation in the Middle East intensified dramatically after armed Hamas supporters from the Gaza Strip breached Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, killing residents in border communities and taking hostages. In response, Israel launched a military operation in the enclave with the aim of dismantling the Hamas military and political structure and securing the release of all those abducted.

On January 15, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said that Egypt, Qatar, and the US had brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas to implement a ceasefire in Gaza and release hostages from the enclave. The ceasefire came into effect on January 19.