US President Donald Trump’s plans to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and take control of the enclave by force “is a crime against humanity and reinforces the law of the jungle at the international level”, member of Hamas’ political bureau, Basem Naim, said today.

“For 15 months, Netanyahu and his fascist government have tried to displace the residents of the Gaza Strip and have failed to achieve this goal in the face of our people’s steadfastness and adherence to their land and homeland,” Naim said.

“What the occupation has failed to do, no American administration or power in the world will succeed in implementing,” he stressed.

Gaza, Naim continued, is in urgent need of comprehensive reconstruction plans after the systematic destruction caused by Israel’s military offensive. The problem, he explained, with reconstruction is not in the presence of Palestinians on their land, “but rather in the continuation of the Zionist occupation and the stifling siege of the Gaza Strip for more than 17 years with American support.”

The Hamas leader called for urgent regional and international action to put an end to these malicious plans, because any attempts to implement such plans will destabilise security and stability in the region.

Naim’s comments come after Trump declared during a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday that “the US will take over the Gaza Strip” and “own it”. He went on to suggest it could one day be “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

(C) Middle East Monitor