Trump Endorses Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza
The proposed movement of over a million Palestinians out of Gaza is a recipe for disaster and abuse.

The Israel-Hamas War has a new layer of open cruelty. This time, thanks to Donald Trump. Earlier last Saturday, President Donald Trump suggested what he called a “clean out” of Gaza, effectively arguing for the mass deportation of over a million Palestinians from their homes. This, in no uncertain terms, is an argument for ethnic cleansing and must be opposed.
What Did He Say?
Outside Air Force One, Trump addressed a crowd of reporters in which he said that he would like to see Egypt and Jordan take Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip, arguing that they needed to be moved. According to the Financial Times, President Trump said:
“I’d like Egypt to take people. And I’d like Jordan to take people….You’re talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing.”
This proposed decision, meaning the forced removal of all the people living in Gaza, is nothing short of ethnic cleansing and is a human rights violation. Ethnic cleansing, which seeks to remove one group in favor of creating a homogenous group, not only relies on violence and destruction but also the subjugation of the group subjected to the power of the state. The Palestinians, who have nobody to advocate for them or protect them from the IDF if this Trumpist policy is enacted, would not only lose their self-determination but also lose their ability to seek restitution for the crimes committed against them by the Israeli military.
What Does this mean for Palestinians?
It is worth noting that since the war in Gaza started after Hamas attacked on October 7th, an estimated 45,936 Palestinians and over 1,200 Israelis have been killed, with an estimated 1.9 million people being internally displaced within Gaza, per the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Though some estimates that the death count is a serious undercount.
With over 90 percent of the population now internally displaced and struggling to get access to basic necessities, the idea of the leader of the Free World calling for their forced removal is haunting and cruel. These people have only just seen a tenuous ceasefire enacted after two years of bombing and are only now picking up the pieces of their lives, all while not having a state to call their own.
Palestinians in the West Bank are also suffering as Israeli settlers and forces have attacked the Jenin region, leaving Palestinians without much of a say in their future.
And while Egypt and Jordan have staunchly rejected the idea and will almost certainly refuse any attempt to displace the Palestinian people from their homes, the fact remains that the most powerful man on Earth doesn’t believe that Palestinians have a right to exist in their own land and right.
References
Harvey, Lex, and Betsy Klein. 2025. “Trump Suggests His Plan for Gaza Strip Is to ‘Clean out the Whole Thing’ | CNN Politics.” CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/25/politics/trump-gaza-strip-jordan-egypt/index.html (January 27, 2025).
Kelly, Conor. 2023. “UK Foreign Secretary Calls for Ceasefire.” The Progressive American. https://www.progressiveamerican.net/p/uk-foreign-secretary-calls-for-ceasefire (January 28, 2025).
Khatib, Rasha, et al., 2024. “Counting the Dead in Gaza: Difficult but Essential.” The Lancet 404(10449): 237–38. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01169-3.
Legum, Judd. 2025. “The Foreign Policy of an American Kleptocracy.”
Quran, Layla. 2017. “What’s the Difference between Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing? | PBS News.” PBS News. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/whats-the-difference-between-genocide-and-ethnic-cleansing (January 27, 2025).
Saleh, Heba, and Neri Zilber. 2025. “Trump Proposes ‘Clean out’ of Gaza Population.” Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/8f532d01-a8cc-49e3-b1db-31e3da8d3771 (January 28, 2025).
“Reported Impact Snapshot | Gaza Strip (8 January 2025).” 2025. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - occupied Palestinian territory. http://www.ochaopt.org/content/reported-impact-snapshot-gaza-strip-8-january-2025 (January 28, 2025).
Weissert, Will, and Zeke Miller. 2025. “Trump Floats Plan For Gaza, Wants Egypt to Accept Refugees.” TIME. https://time.com/7210111/trump-plan-clean-out-gaza-jordan-egypt-refugees-intake/ (January 28, 2025).