Camille Naredo

This aerial view shows displaced Palestinians returning to the war-devastated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025, shortly before a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas was implemented. Omar Al-Qattaa, AFP/File

This aerial view shows displaced Palestinians returning to the war-devastated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025, shortly before a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas was implemented. Mediator Qatar on January 19 confirmed the start of a truce between Israel and Hamas and said some of the initial three hostages to be freed hold foreign citizenship. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Article (news)

GAZA

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1737900335209AFP__20250119__36UL2KW__v3__Preview__TopshotPalestinianIsraelConflict.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="This aerial view shows displaced Palestinians returning to the war-devastated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025, shortly before a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas was implemented. Omar Al-Qattaa, AFP/File"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">This aerial view shows displaced Palestinians returning to the war-devastated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025, shortly before a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas was implemented. <em>Omar Al-Qattaa, AFP/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories -- Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad reacted with defiance on Sunday to a plan floated by US President Donald Trump to &quot;clean out&quot; Gaza, as a fragile truce aimed at permanently ending the war entered its second week.</p><p>There was no immediate reaction from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but a far-right minister welcomed Trump&#x27;s &quot;great&quot; idea.</p><p>Meanwhile, a dispute linked to the latest hostage-prisoner swap under the truce deal led to vast crowds of Palestinians jamming a coastal road after they were blocked from returning to the territory&#x27;s north.</p><p>The swap saw four Israeli women hostages, all soldiers, and 200 Palestinian prisoners released on Saturday to joyful scenes, in the second such exchange so far.</p><p>After 15 months of war, Trump said Gaza had become a &quot;demolition site&quot;, adding he had spoken to Jordan&#x27;s King Abdullah II about moving Palestinians out of the territory.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;d like Egypt to take people. And I&#x27;d like Jordan to take people,&quot; Trump told reporters, adding he expected to talk to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/26/trump-floats-plan-to-just-clean-out-gaza-1347">READ: Trump floats plan to &#x27;just clean out&#x27; Gaza</a></div><p>Most Gazans are Palestinian refugees or their descendants.</p><p>For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark historical memories of what the Arab world calls the &quot;Nakba&quot; or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel&#x27;s creation 75 years ago.</p><p>Egypt has previously warned against any &quot;forced displacement&quot; of Palestinians from Gaza into the Sinai desert, which Sisi said could jeopardise the peace treaty Egypt signed with Israel in 1979.</p><p>Jordan is already home to around 2.3 million registered Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations.</p><p>&quot;You&#x27;re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,&quot; Trump said of Gaza, whose population is about 2.4 million.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,&quot; Trump said, adding that moving Gaza&#x27;s inhabitants could be done &quot;temporarily or could be long term&quot;.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/25/watch-hamas-releases-four-israeli-hostages-under-ceasefire-deal-1821">WATCH: Hamas releases four Israeli hostages under ceasefire deal</a></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Deplorable&#x27; -</strong></div><div><script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAEyze-tm4MR6kEa&amp;cid=ABTjYGKWRhVckBYm&amp;activation=click&amp;vip_mode=playing&amp;vip_position=bottom-right"></script></div><p>Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas&#x27;s political bureau, told AFP that Palestinians would &quot;foil such projects&quot;, as they have done to similar plans &quot;for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades&quot;.</p><p>Gazans, he said, &quot;will not accept any offers or solutions, even if their apparent intentions are good under the banner of reconstruction, as proposed by US President Trump.&quot;</p><p>Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza, called Trump&#x27;s idea &quot;deplorable&quot; and said it encouraged &quot;war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land&quot;.</p><p>But far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who opposed the Gaza truce deal, said Trump&#x27;s suggestion of &quot;helping them find other places to start a better life is a great idea&quot;.</p><p>He added: &quot;Only out-of-the-box thinking with new solutions will bring a solution of peace and security.&quot;</p><p>Almost all Gazans have been displaced by the war that began after Hamas&#x27;s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.</p><p>The United Nations says close to 70 percent of the territory&#x27;s buildings are damaged or destroyed.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/22/hamas-back-on-gaza-streets-after-war-with-israel-0149">READ: Hamas back on Gaza streets after war with Israel</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/25/hamas-to-release-four-israeli-hostages-in-truce-swap-saturday-1408">READ: Hamas to release four Israeli hostages in truce swap Saturday</a></div><div><strong>- Waiting to enter -</strong></div><p>On Sunday, cars and carts loaded with belongings jammed a road near the Netzarim Corridor that Israel has blocked, preventing the expected return of hundreds of thousands of people to northern Gaza.</p><p>Aerial footage showed the crowd stretching hundreds of metres in three directions, with Gaza&#x27;s civil defence agency saying &quot;tens of thousands&quot; were waiting in the area to go north.</p><p>Israel announced on Saturday it would prevent Palestinians&#x27; passage to the north until the release of Arbel Yehud, a civilian woman hostage who Netanyahu&#x27;s office said &quot;was supposed to be released&quot;.</p><p>On Sunday, Netanyahu&#x27;s office said that by not releasing her on Saturday Hamas had committed a truce violation. It said they had also violated the deal by not providing a &quot;detailed list of all hostages&#x27; statuses&quot;, the office said.</p><p>Hamas later said that blocking returns to the north also amounted to a truce violation, adding it had provided &quot;all the necessary guarantees&quot; for Yehud&#x27;s release.</p><p>Israel has also reached a ceasefire with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the health ministry and army on Sunday said Israeli troops killed three residents and a Lebanese soldier as hundreds of people tried to return to their homes on the deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from the area.</p><p>During the first phase of the Gaza truce, 33 hostages should be freed in staggered releases over six weeks in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/22/drone-footage-gazans-inspect-damage-in-rafah-0115">DRONE FOOTAGE: Gazans inspect damage in Rafah</a></div><p>The truce has brought a surge of food, fuel medicines and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza, but the UN says &quot;the humanitarian situation remains dire&quot;.</p><p>Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas&#x27;s October 7, 2023 attack, 87 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.</p><p>The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.</p><p>Israel&#x27;s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,283 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory&#x27;s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable. -- <strong>Report from Youssef Hassouna with Adel Zaanoun in Cairo and Jay Deshmukh in Jerusalem</strong></p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad reacted with defiance on Sunday to a plan floated by US President Donald Trump to "clean out" Gaza, as a fragile truce aimed at permanently ending the war entered its second week.</p>

Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad reacted with defiance on Sunday to a plan floated by US President Donald Trump to "clean out" Gaza, as a fragile truce aimed at permanently ending the war entered its second week.

Militants slam Trump idea of relocating Palestinians

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Militants slam Trump idea of relocating Palestinians

Agence France-Presse

Published Jan 26, 2025 11:51 PM PHT

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