Netanyahu on Trump's Gaza plan: Relocated Palestinians will be allowed back only if they disavowed terror

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his praise for US President Donald Trump’s proposal to take over Gaza. He called Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza the “first fresh idea in years.” The Republican firebrand stirred controversy after he pitched to relocate nearly 2 million Palestinians from their homeland in Gaza so that the United States could “take over” the area and turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu emphasised that Trump’s idea was innovative. “It has the potential to change everything in Gaza,” he told the “friendly” news outlet in a pre-recorded interview. This was the third interview the Israeli premier granted to Fox News while he was on a six-day trip to Washington DC.

Interestingly, during his trip to the US, Netanyahu has avoided speaking to almost all accompanying Israeli journalists as of now. Trump’s idea received backlash from several Middle Eastern nations like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Even the officials from the United Nations have described it as a new kind of “ethnic cleansing”.

‘Not forcible eviction’: Netanyahu

While defending Trump’s plan, the Israeli premier said that Palestinians won’t be forcibly evicted from the coastal enclave. “Not ethnic cleansing. Getting out from what all these countries and all these do-gooders say is an open-air prison. Why do you want to keep them in prison?” he remarked.

The Israeli premier maintained that Gazans will be eventually able to return home. However, Trump’s initial plan did not include this idea. “Give them the option to relocate temporarily while we rebuild the place physically and while we also rebuild it in terms of radicalization. Do you want to come back? You have to disavow terrorism, but you can come back," he furthered.

During the Fox News interview, Netanyahu pointed out that the main challenge will be “exactly where to send these Gazans.” He continued to describe Trump’s idea as a “novel approach, and the correct approach… a very very good, new approach.”

Netanyahu denies Witkoff forced him into a ceasefire deal.

While speaking about the ceasefire deal, Netanyahu denied that US special envoy Steve Witkoff “muscled” him into the ongoing hostage release deal with Hamas. “We had a real, not only friendly, but eye-to-eye conversation, and what happened was, I accepted this deal months ago. Hamas refused the deal," he asserted.

The prime minister also pointed out that he appreciated the “initial support” from Joe Biden’s administration early in the war. But he claimed that while Biden was facing pressure to change his position on Israel, the White House under him said that if the Jewish nation goes into Rafah Washington “will stop sending the weapons.”

According to the premier, some of his cabinet members at that time wanted to end the war with Gaza giving the American opposition. “If we become a vassal state, we will not survive,” he warned. Netanyahu reiterated that the complete elimination of Hamas will remain the ultimate goal of Israel.