Turkey slams Trump’s proposal to relocate Gazans to Egypt and Jordan

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan has voiced his country’s strong opposition to US President Donald Trump’s suggestion to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.

Trump floated the idea last month, saying he would urge the two countries to take in Gaza’s now largely homeless population, so that “we just clean out that whole thing”.

Fidan was speaking during a joint news conference on Tuesday with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, who has been on a visit to Ankara.

The two men discussed trade and investment ties, but also spoke about regional security issues, in particular Gaza.

“The Palestine problem started with the displacement of the Palestinians,” said Fidan.

“We defend the idea that in order to solve this problem permanently, the Palestinians should be granted the right to a state on their land, and that this conflict and dispute should be ended with a two-state solution.”

He added that coming up with a different proposal could be described as “not reading history well”.

Fidan also expressed his concerns that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might “restart the war” in Gaza after the release of the Israeli hostages.

He said Turkey has accepted 15 Palestinians prisoners who were released and deported as part of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel.

Fidan defended Turkey’s acceptance of the released prisoners, saying it did this to support the ceasefire agreement.

The first phase of the ceasefire has led to Hamas’ release of 18 hostages and Israel’s release of 583 jailed Palestinians, of whom at least 79 were sent to Egypt.