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Reports: Trump team mulls temporarily relocating Gaza residents to Indonesia

January 20, 2025 at 9:03 am

Palestinians, returned to Jabalia Refugee Camp, and Beit Lahia areas in the northern Gaza Strip following the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, face massive destruction in Gaza City, Gaza on January 19, 2025. [Haneen Salem – Anadolu Agency]

US President-elect Donald Trump’s team is considering “temporarily” relocating some of Gaza’s two million Palestinians outside of the besieged enclave while the enclave is rebuilt, American NBC network revealed on Saturday.

The network cited an anonymous transition official as saying that one of the temporary host countries considered for refugees was Indonesia.

NBC also reported that incoming Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is considering a visit to war-torn Gaza, as part of efforts to maintain the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.

“You got to see it, you got to feel it,” the transition official said, adding that doing so would allow Witkoff to see “the dynamics playing out on the ground himself, rather than taking Israel’s word for it.”

According to the source, Witkoff is working to achieve long-term stability for the Israelis and two million displaced Palestinians, the path encompassed in the three stages of the deal concluded last week.

The informed official said that “If we don’t help the Gazans, if we don’t make their life better, if we don’t give them a sense of hope, there’s going to be a rebellion.”

Witkoff’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 11 January was critical in concluding a deal.

The American official has openly confronted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying “If you’re not intent on making a deal, then tell me, and I’ll get on the plane and I’ll go home,” the official added, adding that Witkoff highlighted to Netanyahu how much Trump did for Israel in his first term.

Read: Netanyahu warns of return to war in Gaza if phase 2 of agreement fails