CAIR, March 13. /TASS/. A Hamas spokesman welcomed US President Donald Trump's recent remarks where he appeared to back away from his idea to relocate Gaza residents.
"If US President Trump has indeed abandoned ideas of evicting Gazans from the enclave, it is commendable. We call on the American leader to continue to uphold this position and force Israel to meet all the terms of the deal for a ceasefire in the Strip," the group's spokesman, Hazem Qassem, said on Telegram.
According to the spokesman, the White House host should not support "right-wing politicians" in Israel over the future of Gaza.
The comment came after the US president said at a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin that no one was going to send Palestinians away from Gaza.
On February 4, Trump first announced that Washington was considering long-term ownership of the Gaza Strip and the resettlement of Palestinians from the enclave to other countries in the region. The president subsequently repeated the idea several times, and on February 26, he published on the Truth Social platform an AI-generated video that showed his vision of what Gaza would look like after rebuilding.
Trump's proposal drew criticism not only from Hamas, but also from Arab and Iranian leaders. In early February, Egypt announced that it would prepare its own plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, which would not involve a resettlement of the Palestinians. The plan was presented to an Arab League summit on March 4, where it was unanimously approved.