United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Jordan and Egypt should take in Palestinians from Gaza.

The proposal came amid the ceasefire in Gaza.

Asked if Jordan, which borders Israel and the Palestinian territory of West Bank, and Egypt, which shares a boundary with Gaza, taking in Palestinians was a temporary or long-term solution, the US president said: “Could be either.”

Trump had first floated the proposal on Saturday, saying that he would urge the leaders of Jordan and Egypt to accept Palestinians from Gaza, so that “we just clean out that whole thing”, the Associated Press reported.

“It’s literally a demolition site right now,” Trump said. “I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich welcomed Trump’s suggestion, calling it “an excellent idea”. Smotrich has previously proposed the return of Israeli settlements in Gaza, which has been rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Reuters reported.

The suggestion was rejected by Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the besieged territory, as well as by Jordan and Egypt, Reuters reported.

Hamas official Basem Naim reiterated concerns that the Palestinians were being permanently driven out of their homes in Gaza.

Palestinians “will not accept any offers or solutions, even if [such offers] appear to have good intentions under the guise of reconstruction, as announced in the proposals of US President Trump,” Naim told Reuters.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also condemned the remark by Trump. “Our people will remain steadfast and will not leave their homeland,” Palestinian news agency WAFA quoted Abbas as saying.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that his country’s position against the displacement of Palestinians from the besieged territory was “irreversible and unchanged”, The Jordan Times reported.

The Egyptian foreign ministry said it categorically rejects the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, be it “temporary or in the long term”.

More than 2.3 million Palestinians already live in Jordan, according to the United Nations. More than 100,000 Palestinians had fled to Egypt in the first seven months of the war in Gaza, according to Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt, Diab al-Louh.

Jordan and Egypt are partners of the United States, designated by Washington as “major non-NATO allies”, or countries that have strategic working relationships with the US military while not being a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for collective defence.

Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7, 2023, after Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel retaliated by carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza, killing more than 47,700 persons, including over 17,400 children. About 400 Israeli soldiers died in the conflict.

Some hostages had been released in November 2023 as part of a brief ceasefire while some were killed.

On Saturday, Hamas released four women Israeli soldiers who had been held as hostages in Gaza. This marked the second hostage swap under the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel that came into effect on January 19, pausing a conflict that started 15 months ago.

Soon after the deal was reached, Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for three hostages held in Gaza.

Two hundred prisoners were freed by the Israeli government on Saturday as part of the ceasefire deal, Reuters reported, citing a list released by Hamas.

The first six-week phase of the ceasefire that began on January 19 involves the exchange of 33 hostages for hundreds of Palestinian detainees. This phase will also see the Israeli military withdrawing from all populated areas of Gaza and humanitarian aid being allowed into the besieged territory.

The agreement also allows hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to their neighbourhoods in Gaza. About 1.9 million people in Gaza have been displaced since October 2023, according to the UN’s Palestine refugee agency.

Negotiations for the second phase are scheduled to begin on the sixteenth day of the ceasefire and will aim for a “permanent end to the war”. It would also include the release of the remaining hostages, including men, in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The second phase also entails the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. The third and final phase would include the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of any remaining bodies of slain hostages.