Egypt Daily News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Wednesday that “Israel has changed the face of the Middle East, and the changes are ongoing.”
Regarding the U.S. president’s plan, Netanyahu said he is working with Trump to implement his plan to relocate Gaza residents of their own free will, emphasizing that he has not downplayed the significance of this plan.
Speaking about the failure of October 7, Netanyahu said: “There are many questions, but ultimately, there was a simple one—why didn’t we act? Why didn’t we move that night despite having prior indications? We could have acted, even with the forces present around the Strip, as well as using the air force.”
Last Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that “no one will be expelled from Gaza, and no one is forcing the residents of the Strip to leave.” His statement marked a clear retreat from his previous proposal to expel Palestinians from Gaza and establish the “Middle East Riviera” in the Strip—an idea that was widely rejected by Arab and international communities.
Trump’s remarks came during his meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, where they discussed the situation in Gaza.
Earlier, Trump had called for relocating a large number of Palestinians to Jordan, Egypt, and “other Arab countries,” a proposal that sparked widespread opposition, reaffirming the Palestinian people’s right to remain in their homeland.
Last week, Cairo hosted an emergency Arab summit to discuss developments in Gaza as the first phase of a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel came to an end on Sunday, without an agreement to extend it or move to a second phase.
The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect on January 19, 2025, following a devastating Israeli military campaign on Gaza that lasted over 15 months, leaving more than 170,000 Palestinians dead, injured, or missing in response to Hamas’ “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack on October 7, 2023.
