Hamas rejects Gaza relocation plan but hints it may surrender control of Gaza

Senior Hamas officials blast Trump’s proposal to relocate 1.5 million Gazans to Egypt or Jordan while expressing openness to talks with the US to give up on post-war control over the Gaza Strip.

By World Israel News Staff

The Hamas terror organization on Sunday condemned plans by the Trump administration to relocate two-thirds of the population of the Gaza Strip to a third-party country.

However, it expressed a willingness to enter into talks with the U.S. to discuss postwar arrangements for governing Gaza that do not include Hamas.

On Sunday, Hamas senior spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri lambasted Trump’s proposal to relocate 1.5 million Gazans to a third-party country – possibly Jordan or Egypt – either temporarily or on a “long-term” basis.

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he had spoken with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and that he was slated to speak with Egypt’s president on the issue.

Abu Zuhri rejected the proposal, saying that only the withdrawal of Israeli forces and an end to the current war could address the lingering issues between Israel and Hamas.

However, senior Hamas politburo member Moussa Abu Marzouk told the Saudi outlet Al Arabiya that the terror group may be willing to cede control of the Gaza Strip after the current war with Israel, adding that Hamas is willing to enter into talks with the U.S. with the aim of finding some arrangement for the coastal enclave’s administration.

Last year, AFP reported that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah party had signed an outline for a deal according to which a non-partisan committee of 10-15 prominent Gazans would be established by Hamas and Fatah to govern Gaza after the current war.

While Israel has said in the past that it would accept neither Hamas control nor Palestinian Authority involvement in post-war Gaza, Abu Marzouk said the terror group is “open to dialogue with all parties – besides Israel.”

Abu Marzouk echoed Abu Zuhri’s opposition to Trump’s relocation plan, saying: “No Palestinian or Arab will accept Trump’s idea of displacement. It will not succeed.”

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