TRANSCRIPT
"I'm looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it's a mess. It's a real mess.
(Reporter: You'd like Jordan to house people from Gaza?
I'd like him to take people. I mean, you're talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. Over the centuries it's had many, many conflicts, that site. And I don't know, it's something has to happen. But, it's literally a demolition site right now."
That's US President Donald Trump.
He says Gaza's displaced population – estimated to be at least 1.9 million – should be resettled elsewhere, including in Egypt and Jordan, in order to "clean out" the war-ravaged enclave.
(Reporter: "Temporarily or...?")
"It could be either, could be temporarily, could be long term.”
Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians themselves have previously rejected such a scenario, fearing Israel might never allow Palestinian refugees to return.
Restating that position, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi says it will not walk back from a two-state solution.
"Keeping the Palestinians on their land is a Jordanian constant that has not changed and will not change. Hence our ongoing efforts to rebuild Gaza as well, so that the living conditions that the Palestinian people deserve are provided after all this suffering, after all this destruction, and after all this killing. Our position that the two-state solution is the way to achieve peace is constant and will not change."
And Senior Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal says Palestinians will not abandon the land.
"The Palestinian people who paid with their blood in exchange for their steadfastness on their land will not leave the Gaza Strip and will remain steadfast on their land, taking an example of the poet's saying: 'We will stay here until hope returns'."
President Trump's comments, according to one analyst, are an attempt to rescue Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from a post-war dilemma.
This is former Palestinian Official Ghassan Al-Khatib.
"I think this dramatic statement from President Trump came in order to try to rescue Netanyahu from sinking in the sands of Gaza, because apparently Netanyahu has a big political dilemma with the day after of this war that he has been launching in Gaza."
Another lifeline for Israel: a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs.
Former President Joe Biden had previously ordered they be withheld from delivery to Israel, citing concern for their impact on Gaza's civilian population.
"We released them. We released them today, and they'll have them and they paid for them. You know, they've been waiting for them for a long time, they've been in storage for a long time, but we released them today to Israel."
(Reporter: "Why did you do that, sir?")
"Because they bought them."
Israeli Prime Minister Mr Netanyahu a happy customer.
"Thank you, President Trump, for keeping your promise to give Israel the tools it needs to defend itself, to confront our common enemies, and to secure a future of peace and prosperity."
As President Trump keeps his promises, others falter.
On Saturday, Israel was to begin allowing Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza on foot – through the Netzarim corridor bisecting Gaza.
That's been delayed until Monday morning, Mr Netanyahu confirmed in a post to X, when Hamas will release civilian Arbel Yehud, soldier Agam Berger and another hostage.
Israel put the move on hold until Hamas agreed to free Ms Yehud, who it says was supposed to have been released on Saturday.
Hamas has in turn accused Israel of violating the agreement.
As thousands of Palestinians gather, waiting to move north, Mohamed al-Najjar says he and others are desperate to return home.
"Come see what we are going through, come see our children's suffering. We say, enough. It is enough that you have seen us getting slaughtered and killed, that you have seen our destruction – and you have been watching. This is enough, we want to go to our homes, and re-inhabit. We can put up some nylon, some plastic and live underneath it."
Cries of desperation also from the West Bank.
2-year-old Laila Al-Khatib was killed by Israeli gunfire while playing in her home in Jenin.
Her grandmother, Ghada Asous, inconsolable.
"She always used to say I want to see my grandma. Laila has gone, now we are without Laila, Laila was the joy of the house. She’s not here anymore. I used to consider her like one of my daughters. I used to care of her and she used to always ask for rice pudding, she used to love it and always asked for it but now Laila is gone.''
The Israeli military said it's investigating the incident.
