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Global Reaction to Trump’s Gaza Strip Takeover Plan

US President Donald J. Trump speaks during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 04 February 2025. (EPA)
US President Donald J. Trump speaks during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 04 February 2025. (EPA)
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Global Reaction to Trump’s Gaza Strip Takeover Plan

US President Donald J. Trump speaks during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 04 February 2025. (EPA)
US President Donald J. Trump speaks during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 04 February 2025. (EPA)

President Donald Trump said the United States would take over the Gaza Strip after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere. 

Here are some global reactions to the announcement. 

SAUDI ARABIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY 

"Saudi Arabia rejects any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has affirmed the kingdom's position in 'a clear and explicit manner' that does not allow for any interpretation under any circumstances." 

EGYPT'S FOREIGN MINISTER BADR ABDELATTY 

Abdelatty discussed with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa the importance of moving forward with recovery projects in Gaza without Palestinians leaving the Gaza Strip. 

PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS AND THE PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP 

Abbas said the Palestinians will not relinquish their land, rights, and sacred sites, and that the Gaza Strip is an integral part of the land of the State of Palestine, along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem. 

SENIOR HAMAS OFFICIAL SAMI ABU ZUHRI 

"Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass, and what is required is to end the (Israeli) occupation and aggression against our people, not to expel them from their land." 

KREMLIN SPOKESMAN DMITRY PESKOV 

Russia believes a settlement in the Middle East is only possible on the basis of a two-state solution. 

CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY 

"China hopes all parties will take ceasefire and post-conflict governance as an opportunity to bring the Palestinian issue back on the right track of political settlement based on the two-state solution." 

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER HAKAN FIDAN 

US President Donald Trump's comments on a plan to take over Gaza are "unacceptable". Any plans leaving Palestinians "out of the equation" would lead to more conflict. 

PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANISATION SECRETARY GENERAL HUSSEIN AL-SHEIKH 

"The Palestinian leadership affirms its firm position that the two-state solution, in accordance with international legitimacy and international law, is the guarantee of security, stability and peace." 

ISLAMIC JIHAD 

"Trump's positions and plans are a dangerous escalation that threaten Arab and regional national security, especially in Egypt and Jordan, which the US administration wants to put in confrontation with the Palestinian people and their rights." 

UK ENVIRONMENT MINISTER STEVE REED 

"The UK government's position ... is that Palestinian civilians must be able to return to their homes and rebuild their lives. For those people, the last ...months have been a living nightmare, and it's important they're able to go home after this to start to rebuild. 

"They'll need a lot of support from the international community to do that, but it's the only way we're going to get to the long-term solution for all of this, and a long-term peace, which is a two-state solution." 

AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER ANTHONY ALBANESE 

"Australia's position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year. The Australian government supports on a bipartisan basis a two-state solution." 

DEMOCRATIC AND PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN US REPRESENTATIVE RASHIDA TLAIB 

"Palestinians aren't going anywhere. This president can only spew this fanatical (expletive) because of bipartisan support in Congress for funding genocide and ethnic cleansing. It's time for my two-state solution colleagues to speak up." 

US MUSLIM ADVOCACY GROUP COUNCIL ON AMERICAN ISLAMIC RELATIONS 

"Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people, not the United States, and President Trump's call to expel Palestinians from their land is an absolute non-starter." 

"If the Palestinian people were ever somehow forcibly expelled from Gaza, this crime against humanity would spark widespread conflict, put the final nail in the coffin of international law, and destroy what remains of our nation's international image and standing." 

PAUL O'BRIEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA 

"Removing all Palestinians from Gaza is tantamount to destroying them as a people. Gaza is their home. Gaza's death and destruction is a result of the government of Israel killing civilians by the thousands, often with US bombs." 

DEMOCRATIC US SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY 

"He's totally lost it...A US invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of US troops and decades of war in the Middle East. It's like a bad, sick joke." 

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Arab World

Man with Disability Killed by Israeli Fire in Syria

Syrians walk past shops down an alley at the Old City in Damascus on October 21, 2026. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
Syrians walk past shops down an alley at the Old City in Damascus on October 21, 2026. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
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Man with Disability Killed by Israeli Fire in Syria

Syrians walk past shops down an alley at the Old City in Damascus on October 21, 2026. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
Syrians walk past shops down an alley at the Old City in Damascus on October 21, 2026. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)

A man with a disability was killed Thursday by Israeli army fire during an incursion in southern Syria, where it has stepped up operations, Syria's state news agency said.

"A civilian with a disability was killed Thursday by fire from the Israeli occupation forces during their incursion into the village of Jamla" in Daraa province, SANA news agency said.

Israeli forces deployed in one neighborhood of the village and placed snipers on the rooftops after bombing the area late on Wednesday, the report said.

After Ahmed al-Sharaa came to power in Damascus in late 2024, Israel launched hundreds of strikes against Syria.

The Israeli army also carried out incursions into Syria's south and deployed troops in the UN-monitored buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.

In recent days, Israeli forces have also uprooted vast olive groves in Quneitra province, near Daraa, according to the agency.

Trees were destroyed across an area of about 1.3 hectares by the village of Saida, SANA said.

The village faces the buffer zone where the Israeli army has been building fortifications.

"Tanks entered my land without any warning," Mohammad Ali al-Chaghla, 58, the owner of the field, told AFP. "They cut down and destroyed some 400 trees during their incursion."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned "the intensification of incursions by the Israeli occupation" in Quneitra and Daraa.

Arab World

Tunisia: Former Presidential Candidate Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison

Opposition politician Olfa Hamdi
Opposition politician Olfa Hamdi
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Tunisia: Former Presidential Candidate Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison

Opposition politician Olfa Hamdi
Opposition politician Olfa Hamdi

A Tunisian military court sentenced opposition politician Olfa Hamdi to four years in prison on charges of plotting against state security and inciting the military to disobey orders, her lawyer said on Wednesday.

The charges against the dual Tunisian and American national stemmed from social media posts and included inciting military personnel to disobey orders, lawyer Akram Moussa said.

Hamdi briefly served as head of national airline company Tunisair before her sacking in 2021, later running a consulting firm in the United States.

In Tunisia's 2024 presidential vote, Hamdi -- then 36 -- sought to run for the top role, but her candidacy was turned down as she did not meet the 40-year age limit for candidates.

A critic of President Kais Saied, Hamdi was already sentenced to two years in prison earlier this year after her arrest upon arrival at Tunis airport in February.

The latest sentence against her came from two additional convictions, with two years in prison for each, Moussa said.

A US State Department spokesman told AFP that Washington was "closely tracking the situation."

"The Trump Administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens," he said.

Hamdi heads the Third Republic party, which she founded in 2022, and has often criticized Saied and, at times, the country's military on social media.

Arab World

Druze Source Denies Reports of Plans for Israeli Base in Rural Sweida

Tal Qulaib in Syria's Sweida province (File photo: SANA)
Tal Qulaib in Syria's Sweida province (File photo: SANA)
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Druze Source Denies Reports of Plans for Israeli Base in Rural Sweida

Tal Qulaib in Syria's Sweida province (File photo: SANA)
Tal Qulaib in Syria's Sweida province (File photo: SANA)

A Druze source in Syria's southern Sweida province who opposes the policies of Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri has dismissed reports of plans to establish an Israeli military base in the province's southeastern countryside.

The source also denied reports that the so-called National Guard was preparing to launch a major offensive against areas under Syrian government control and neighboring Daraa province, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that the claims were “media rumors with no basis on the ground.”

“The reality is different,” the source said.

“While platforms and media outlets affiliated with al-Hijri and his fighters were aggressively spreading these rumors, there were limited preparations to attack internal security positions, but the attack never materialized.”

The source said the reported plans were unlikely to move “beyond the media.”

Since early last week, media outlets affiliated with al-Hijri and the National Guard have reported preparations for a major offensive against government-held areas in rural Sweida, with some threatening to extend the assault into neighboring Daraa province.

The claims have been accompanied by reports of intensive, sustained Israeli helicopter activity over southern Syria, including Sweida, Daraa and Quneitra. Some accounts alleged that helicopters carrying military equipment for Sweida's armed groups had landed in the province's countryside.

Other reports went further, alleging that Sweida’s de facto authorities were in talks with the Israeli government to establish a military base on Tal Qulaib, a hill in the province’s southeast, and install surveillance equipment at its summit.

Amid the reports, one platforms said the National Guard leadership had issued a military circular ordering all sector commanders and field units to bar civilians from approaching or filming at designated strategic hills and locations, warning of legal and judicial action against violators.

The circular called for “strict surveillance and immediate enforcement” at Tal Maaz, Tal al-Fara, Tal Alia, Jabal al-Fina, Tal Qulaib, Tal Shaaf, Tal al-Majda, Tal Sahn and Tal Zawagh in eastern Sweida.

But the Druze military source challenged the claims, saying he was in daily contact with residents of al-Kafr, a town on the slopes of Tal Qulaib.

“Residents confirm that life in the town is entirely normal. There are no signs of a base being established,” he said.

Journalist Omar al-Hariri, a native of southern Syria, also denounced the wave of reports circulated by outlets affiliated with al-Hijri as “fake,” warning against sharing them in a post on X.

He said there was “no truth whatsoever” to claims that Israel was building a military base in Sweida.

He argued that Israel had no need for an air base in Sweida, which lies less than 100 kilometers from Israeli bases in Quneitra and the Golan Heights, putting al-Hijri’s fighters within minutes of Israeli air support.

As for reports of sustained Israeli helicopter flights over southern Syria, al-Hariri said such flights were nothing new. Helicopters had previously delivered weapons, communications equipment, logistical supplies and aid, as well as transported sick and wounded people, he said.

National Guard Turns Accusations on Damascus

National Guard spokesperson Major Talal Amer, however, accused Damascus of plotting an offensive of its own, saying the government sought to distract the public from administrative failures by drawing it into an external conflict.

“We are seeing reinforcements arriving and fortifications being built around the clock in occupied areas,” Amer told Asharq Al-Awsat in a written message.

“Meanwhile, the Damascus government is spreading rumors to divert attention and convince public opinion that it is repelling an attack,” he said.

“If the National Guard intended to launch an offensive to liberate its occupied villages, it would not announce it or leak the plans on social media.”

Amer also rejected calls by Sweida Governor Mustafa al-Bakour for dialogue with residents to resolve the crisis.

Former chief Syrian opposition negotiator and lawyer Mohammed Sabra cast further doubt on the National Guard's ability to mount an offensive, citing the militias' limited manpower, inadequate weapons and internal divisions.

“The militias in Sweida simply do not have the capacity to launch a military attack,” Sabra said.

He said they faced severe shortages of fighters and possessed little beyond small arms, rifles and some anti-armor munitions.

Internal rifts had compounded their weakness, he added, with some groups turning into gangs involved in robbery, looting, kidnapping and the intimidation of civilians.

Their grip on Sweida, Sabra argued, rested not on military strength but on regional power dynamics and ties to Israel.

He warned that Israel could seize on any military operation aimed at ending what he called an "abnormal situation" as a pretext for deeper intervention inside Syria.

Israeli Arms Buildup and Election Uncertainty

Sabra acknowledged that Israeli military and logistical support for Sweida's militias had increased, but questioned whether the buildup signaled an impending offensive against government-controlled areas in western Sweida.

The explanation, he suggested, may lie instead in Israel's own political uncertainty ahead of pivotal parliamentary elections.

If Benjamin Netanyahu lost and another politician was tasked with forming a government, Sabra said, Netanyahu's administration would enter a caretaker period, limiting its ability to create new military or security realities that could obstruct the incoming government's agenda.

The next government's security policy toward Syria remained unknown, he added.

An inconclusive election could prove equally restrictive.

If neither Netanyahu's bloc nor the opposition secured enough support to form a stable government, Israel could face a political crisis and another election, a process Sabra said could take three to four months.

The government's powers would also face certain restrictions during that period.

Against that backdrop, Sabra suggested that increased Israeli weapons shipments to Sweida's militias could be designed to prepare them for either outcome, ensuring they had enough arms and ammunition to last through months of political uncertainty.

He said Israeli weapons deliveries to the militias had risen markedly over the past week.