Hamas says Palestinians will not allow occupation of their lands as Trump plans to ‘take over’ Gaza

CAIRO – 5 February 2025: Hamas slammed US President Donald Trump’s remarks that the US “will take over” the Gaza Strip and develop it, while moving Palestinians elsewhere. The Palestinian movement stressed that it will not allow this to happen.

“We emphasize that we, along with our Palestinian people and their living forces, will not allow any country in the world to occupy our land or impose guardianship over our great Palestinian people, who have shed rivers of blood to liberate our land from occupation and establish our Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” the movement said in a statement on Telegram on Wednesday.

Hamas stressed that these statements are “hostile to our people and our cause, will not contribute to stability in the region, and will only fuel the fire.”

They called upon the US administration and Trump to “retract these irresponsible statements, which contradict international law and the natural rights of our Palestinian people to their land.”

Hamas urged the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the United Nations to convene urgently to address these “dangerous statements.”

The movement called on them to “take a firm and historic stance that preserves our Palestinian people’s national rights, their right to self-determination, and the establishment of their Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

"The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too." –President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/aCqLl9Gwwn

— President Donald J. Trump (@POTUS) February 5, 2025

At a joint press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump said “the US will take over the Gaza Strip … and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.”

“We're going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it'll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of,” Trump stated. "I do see a long-term ownership position and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East."

Trump said the US will turn Gaza into a development project that could be “the Riviera of the Middle East,” with “the world’s people living there.”

Netanyahu commended Trump for “thinking outside the box” with such proposal.

Trump’s plan, if implemented, seems to bring the curtain down on hopes for the implementation of a long-awaited and globally advocated two-state solution with Israelis and Palestinians living peacefully in two separate states.

Regarding the occupied West Bank, Trump said he has not taken a position on it yet but noted that an announcement will be made soon.

Israel occupied Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war. Palestinians want all three territories for their future state, a demand that most of the international community has supported.

Inside the US, the Republican president’s remarks have been rebuked by democratic lawmakers and also some republicans.

Following Trump’s remarks, Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its categorical rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, annexation of Palestinian lands, or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land.

Saudi Arabia, in a foreign ministry statement, called for the international community to work to alleviate the harsh humanitarian suffering that the Palestinian people are suffering from.

Riyadh stressed that the Palestinians “will remain committed to their land and will not budge from it.”

Saudi Arabia emphasized that it will not start diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is established with East Jerusalem as its capital.