Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday welcomed US President Donald Trump's idea to "clean out" Gaza by relocating Palestinian residents of the territory to Egypt and Jordan.
On Saturday, Trump said he had spoken to Jordan's King Abdullah II about moving Palestinians out of Gaza.
"I'd like Egypt to take people. And I'd like Jordan to take people," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that he expected to talk to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.
Smotrich, a strong opponent of stopping the war in Gaza, welcomed the idea.
"The idea of helping them find other places to start a better life is a great idea. After years of glorifying terrorism, they will be able to establish new and good lives in other places," Smotrich said in a statement.
"Only out-of-the-box thinking with new solutions will bring a solution of peace and security.
"I will, with God's help, work with the prime minister and the cabinet to ensure there is an operational plan to implement this as soon as possible," Smotrich said.
Most Gazans are Palestinian refugees or their descendants.
For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark historical memories of what the Arab world calls the "Nakba" or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation in 1948.
Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Sunday condemned US President Donald Trump's idea to relocate Gazans to Egypt and Jordan, calling it an encouragement of "war crimes".
Describing Trump's idea as "deplorable," the group, which fought a deadly war with Israel in Gaza alongside Hamas until a January 19 ceasefire, stated: "This proposal falls within the framework of encouraging war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land."
A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian militant group would oppose US President Donald Trump's idea to relocate Gazans to Egypt and Jordan.
"As they have foiled every plan for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades, our people will also foil such projects," said Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas political bureau, referring to Trump's comments.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Sunday his kingdom firmly rejects any forced displacement of Palestinians, following remarks by US President Donald Trump suggesting Gazans should be sent to Egypt and Jordan.
"Our rejection of the displacement of Palestinians is firm and will not change. Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians," Safadi said in a statement.
Egypt has previously warned against any "forced displacement" of Palestinians from Gaza into the Sinai desert, which Sisi said could jeopardise the peace treaty Egypt signed with Israel in 1979.
Jordan is already home to around 2.3 million registered Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations.
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