Benjamin Netanyahu: Donald Trump's Gaza relocation plan "remarkable idea"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed President Donald Trump's idea of relocating the Gazan population to other countries while the Strip is rebuilt for the first time in a Fox News interview, calling it a "remarkable" idea.

In the interview, Netanyahu asked "what's wrong with the idea" of allowing those who want to leave to go elsewhere and said that it's the first good idea he's heard. The Prime Minister did qualify it by saying that those who want to leave would be able to come back if they wished once the Gaza Strip was rebuilt, in contrast to Trump who hinted at making the relocation permanent.

Israeli political leaders from both the coalition and opposition both expressed support for Trump's idea as at least a starting point for discussion, including opposition party leaders such as Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman and State Camp leader Benny Gantz.

Arab leaders have been uniformly against the idea, with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi claiming that sending the Gazans to Egypt would lead to national security threats to his country and Jordan even threatening to wage war against Israel if it sends Gazans into its territory.

According to reporter Amit Segal, President Trump is seriously looking into and negotiating with Puntland, Somaliland, and Morocco as countries where Gazans can go if they wish to leave the Strip.

All three need diplomatic recognition from the United States - the first two as independent countries, the third for its sovereignty over the western Sahara - and they all have Sunni Muslim majorities and empty coastlines that need settlement.

Otzmah Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir has said that if Trump's plan is set in motion, then he will return to the government, after having left it in opposition to the hostage deal. His party has submitted a law proposal for the state to provide financial assistance to any Gazan who wishes to leave the Strip - so long as they have no ties to terrorism.