‘Racist, recipe for chaos’ – Hamas slams Trump’s Gaza plan

Hamas condemns American proposal for Gaza, but quietly signals it wants negotiations with the Trump administration.

By World Israel News Staff

The Hamas terror group expressed its opposition to President Donald Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to assume authority over the Gaza Strip and resettling Gazan civilians elsewhere, in a number of media statements on Wednesday.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri slammed the proposal for Gazans to temporarily leave the Strip as “expulsion from their land.”

Hamas considers Trump’s ideas to be “a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass,” he added.

Rather than an outline to rehabilitate and reconstruct the Strip, Abu Zuhri said “what is needed is an end to the occupation and aggression against the Palestinians, not their expulsion from their land.”

Another Hamas official, Izzat al-Risheq, wrote on his Telegram account that the terror group “oppose[s] the statements of U.S. President Donald Trump, in which he called on the Palestinian people in Gaza to leave their homeland under the pretext of rehabilitating the Strip.”

“Trump’s statements are racist and represent a clear attempt to eliminate the Palestinian issue while disregarding our steadfast national rights. Our people in Gaza have thwarted migration and expulsion plans even under attacks for 15 months. The Palestinian people are rooted in their land and will not accept any plan aimed at uprooting them,” al-Risheq added.

However, Hamas wants to engage in negotiations with the American president, according to a report from Russia’s RIA state news agency on Wednesday morning.

“We are ready for contact and talks with the Trump administration,” RIA quoted Hamas politburo member Mousa Abu Marzouk as saying.

Hamas’ response came after Trump announced that the U.S. was ready to play a central role in the future of Gaza, including helping resettle the civilian population in nearby wealthy Arab countries durin the reconstruction process.

The U.S. would “own” Gaza and be responsible for its demilitarization, as well as creating new housing and jobs.

“This is not a decision made lightly,” Trump said, adding that “everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land.”

American responsibility for Gaza would bring “great stability to that part of the Middle East,” he added.