Last Updated:
Israeli PM Netanyahu endorsed US President Donald Trump’s plan to resettle Palestinians from Gaza, calling it the only viable path for regional stability.
Benjamin Netanyahu (L)/Donald Trump (R) (Photos: AP/Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said US President Donald Trump has presented “a bold new vision” to enable a different future for the people of Gaza, for the people of Israel, and the surrounding areas.
In his address at an Israeli presidential conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu signalled that he is moving ahead with Trump’s proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of Gaza, calling it “the only viable plan to enable a different future” for the region.
Reiterating Trump’s plan to resettle Palestinians from Gaza, Netanyahu said, “Give them a choice, not a forcible eviction, not ethnic cleansing.”
“We changed the Middle East. Now comes President Trump and Secretary Rubio, who is a great friend of Israel. We have the greatest friend of Israel in the White House now,” Netanyahu said.
“We have to see eye to eye on the main task that we have to accomplish, and we’re in a position to change the Middle East and give Israel the kind of arising, the kind of hope, the kind of security and the kind of peace that would have been unimaginable and, in fact, was unimaginable from the day of the founding of the State of Israel,” he said.
“We see eye to eye with the US administration, President Trump and his administration, first of all, on accomplishing the immediate three goals that we have in Gaza. One is to achieve the release of all our hostages. The second, as I said, is to destroy Hamas. The third is to ensure that Gaza has a different future and that we don’t just go back to the same old, same old, same old.”
“And there, I have to say that President Trump has presented a bold new vision and the only plan that I think can work to enable a different future for the people of Gaza, for the people of Israel, and for the surrounding areas,” the Israeli Prime Minister said.
#WATCH | “We changed the Middle East. Now comes President Trump and Secretary Rubio, who is a great friend of Israel… We have the greatest friend of Israel in the White House now. We have to see eye to eye on the main task that we have to accomplish. And we’re in a position to… pic.twitter.com/APFMVxLOp4— ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2025
Trump’s call for Palestinians to emigrate from Gaza, including to Egypt and Jordan, has been widely condemned with some critics saying that it amounted to “ethnic cleansing”.
Trump has said that he wants the US to take ownership of Gaza and rebuild it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who kicked off a Middle East visit by endorsing Israel’s war aims in Gaza, earlier met Netanyahu in Israel.
As the two discussed the plan, Netanyahu said that “Hamas must be eradicated”.
Rubio, in his upcoming stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, is likely to face more pushback from Arab leaders over Trump’s proposal, which includes redeveloping Gaza under US ownership.
Netanyahu has said all emigration from Gaza should be “voluntary,” but rights groups and other critics say that the plan amounts to coercion given the territory’s vast destruction.
The ceasefire’s first phase ends in two weeks. Negotiations were meant to begin two weeks ago on the second phase, in which Hamas would release dozens of remaining hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
