Feb. 11 (UPI) — President Donald Trump met Tuesday with King Abdullah II as the Jordanian leader said his country will take in thousands of sick Palestinian kids displaced in the Gaza Strip.
“We’re going to take it, we’re going to hold it, we’re going to cherish it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of Gaza. “There’s nothing to buy.”
The president, a former real estate developer, claimed that hotels or other new buildings in Gaza could bring stability to the troubled Middle East region. “We’re going to run it very properly,” he added.
It arrived as Trump publicly floated the idea that Egypt and Jordan accept more than a million Palestinian refugees as the United States takes steps to “clean out” and redevelop the war-torn territory in a proposal that Jordan and its allied Arab nations have flat out rejected.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II: “One of the things we can do right away is take 2,000 children that are either cancer children or in very ill state to Jordan as quickly as possible…”
President Trump: “I didn’t know that…2,000 children…That’s really a beautiful gesture.” pic.twitter.com/a0N7m642cE— CSPAN (@cspan) February 11, 2025
“Arab nations and global leaders have been clear in their opposition to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the urgent need to rebuild Gaza so its people can live with dignity and security,” Iman Awad, national director of policy and advocacy at the Muslim American advocacy group Emgage Action, told The Hill in a statement.
Trump said Sunday that Palestinians would have “no right” to return because “they’re going to have much better housing.”
On Monday, the king said he wanted a deal “that is best for everybody,” adding that Trump’s plans were “lofty” and that he hoped to hear from Egyptian officials soon on a proposal before Jordan commits to further action.
However, he was noncommittal to Trump’s controversial proposal and appeared to pick his words carefully.
“One of the things we can do right away is take 2,000 children that are either cancer children or in very ill state to Jordan as quickly as possible,” Abdullah, 63, told the president.
Trump, 78, previously hinted at withholding U.S. aid for Jordan and Egypt if they do not comply.
He said he “didn’t know that” Jordan would be taking sick children, calling the decision “really a beautiful gesture.”
Meanwhile, Trump suggested Tuesday that Israel terminate its cease-fire deal with Hamas and “let all hell break out” if the remaining hostages held in captivity in Gaza were not set free this week.
“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday in a video statement. “The ceasefire will end, and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is completely defeated,” he continued.