‘He is delusional’: Palestinians in Gaza react to Trump’s ‘clean out’ plan

By Ahmed Dremly in Gaza City, Palestine

As US President Donald Trump was announcing his controversial plan to “clean out” Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the southern enclave began celebrating their return to their homes – or what little remains of them – in the northern Gaza Strip.

For many, Trump’s words were not only dismissive but a stark reminder of the decades-long struggle Palestinians have endured to remain on their land.

Since a ceasefire was announced between Israel and Hamas on 19 January, 64-year-old Nizar Noman has been waiting at the nearest point to the Israeli Netzarim military corridor, which cuts through central Gaza, eager to return to his home in Gaza City.

“As I belong to my homeland, my homeland belongs to me,” Noman said. “I didn’t want to waste a moment away from my home again.”

Noman and his family evacuated to the south in December 2024 after Israeli troops surrounded their neighbourhood. Despite the relentless violence and displacement campaigns during the 15-month Israeli offensive, which has devastated much of Gaza, Noman never lost hope of returning.

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“I regret the day I left my house and went to the south,” he said. “I now prefer to die under the rubble of my home than leave it again, even for another city in Palestine.”

Trump’s suggestion that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza and “just clean out that whole thing” has been meant with disbelief and defiance across the besieged enclave.

“President Trump is delusional to think that the people of Gaza can leave, even if it is a mess as he described,” Noman said.

“He now cares about the people in Gaza and thinks about our future? Where was he when we were being killed by Israeli missiles funded by American taxes?”

A well-known businessman in Gaza, Noman owned several shops in Gaza City, all of which were destroyed or burned during Israeli incursions. The homes of his two sons were also reduced to rubble by air strikes.

Yet, Noman has never considered leaving Gaza, even if other countries offered incentives.

“This is our homeland,” he said. “Neither I, my children, nor my grandchildren will ever leave it.”

‘Trump’s words are a joke’

Zaid Ali, 42, from the northern Gaza Strip, believes that Trump’s statements are part of a concealed agenda for another Nakba, when 750,000 were forced from their homes and out into neighbouring countries during the creation of the state of Israel.  

“America and Israel have always been doing their best to ‘clean out’ lands by force or facilities, but they also always fail as our souls are connected to the sand of this land,” Ali said. 

‘This is our homeland. Neither I, my children, nor my grandchildren will ever leave it’

– Nizar Noman, 64, Gaza

Since 7 October 2023, Ali and his family endured multiple battles, loss, starvation, sickness, fear, and humiliation. Yet, leaving Gaza was never an option.

“My family and I have been steadfast in northern Gaza,” he said. “We never even thought about leaving.”

Ali recalled how he and his five brothers tried to convince their 85-year-old father to evacuate to Egypt before the border closure in May 2024, especially after his health deteriorated following the loss of three grandchildren in Israeli air strikes. But their father refused.

“He witnessed the Nakba and left his home once as a child when they were forcibly displaced from Haifa,” Ali said.

“He would never repeat his father’s mistake. It took us days to convince him to evacuate from our neighbourhood to another during a period of intense Israeli bombing.

“For him, Trump’s words are a joke.” 

‘Survived thousands of certain deaths’

Ali believes that Israel had already attempted to gradually empty northern Gaza through the so-called General’s Plan but failed due to the resilience of Palestinians. 

“Hundreds of thousands of people like me have survived thousands of certain deaths,” he said.

“If war happens again, we will remain on our land. Even the displaced people who returned home to the north today would not evacuate again.”

Ali stood on al-Rashid Street in western Gaza City, waiting for his sister.

She had evacuated to the south early in January 2023 to reunite with her husband, who had been detained by Israeli forces and later released there.

Like hundreds of thousands of others, he was filled with a mixture of relief and gratitude to be reunited with loved ones after months of separation.

“If Trump were here today and witnessed the celebration of those returning to their homes, he would understand the deep connection between Palestinians and their land.”

A space for hope

Like Ali, Lama Abu Asi, 27, didn’t leave northern Gaza, although her family did evacuate several times to temporary shelters after their house in Gaza City was partially destroyed by Israeli attacks last May.

Abu Asi said that despite unimaginable suffering, people in Gaza still have hope for a better future.

“Although we lost our homes and many loved ones, we are grateful to rebuild our lives, even if it means setting up a tent on the ground of our land.”

While Trump may have referred to Gaza as a “demolition site” due to the widespread destruction from Israeli bombardment, Abu Asi believes that, “Our hope, which has sustained us through over a year of hardships, will drive us to rebuild our country with our own hands, more beautifully than before.”

The return of displaced Palestinians from southern Gaza to the north also makes Lama hopeful that one day displaced Palestinians living in exile will return.

“We in Gaza don’t expect anything from the world after the double standards and abandonment we’ve endured,” she said.

“I only hope the world upholds human rights, grants people their dignity, and helps them return to their homeland – not leave it.”

‘They will fail again’

Hosni Mustafa, 68, from Gaza City, currently resides in Egypt, where he evacuated in May 2024 to seek medical treatment for his cancer-stricken wife. He sees Trump’s statements as part of a long-standing effort to empty Palestine, especially Gaza.

“Since the 1970s, Israel and other countries have tried to facilitate Palestinian migration by covering travel costs and offering job prospects abroad,” Hosni said.

‘Palestine is our homeland, and no one on earth can uproot us from it’

– Hosni Mustafa, now in Egypt

“They failed then, and they will fail again.

“Trump may think that people in Gaza can leave and then he can invest in the land but he doesn’t realise that is impossible even with financial incentives and arranged migration.”

Mustafa pointed to the recent return of people to their homes in the north as proof of their unbreakable connection to the land.

“People slept in the streets, waiting for the moment to return to their homes – or the rubble of their homes – even if it was just a few kilometres away,” he said.

“Palestine is our homeland, and no one on earth can uproot us from it.”

Settler colonialism

Haidar Eid, an associate professor at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza and a research associate at the Center for Asia Studies in Africa (CASA) at the University of Pretoria, told Middle East Eye that Trump’s proposal reflects the extremist right-wing ideology that also dominates Israeli politics.

He said that Trump’s so-called efforts to broker a ceasefire were merely tied to his role at the time and that his recent statements reveal a deeper agenda.

‘Trump’s first statement is, in essence, a call for ethnic cleansing… It aligns with the same ideology that controls Israel’

– Haidar Eid, Al-Aqsa University

“Trump’s first statement is, in essence, a call for ethnic cleansing,” Eid said. “It aligns with the same ideology that controls Israel and perpetuates the myth of a peaceful resolution while advancing policies of displacement.”

Eid believes that the US-Israel relationship is rooted in the “shared ideology” of settler colonialism. During the war, Israeli settlers and far-right Israeli officials have repeatedly advocated plans for forcibly displacing Palestinians from vast swaths of Gaza and replacing them with Israeli settlers. 

“Settler-colonial states like Australia and former colonial powers also back Israel, as they share an interest in replacing indigenous populations with settler communities.”

Eid’s analysis underscores the broader context of Trump’s controversial remarks, linking them to a long history of displacement and oppression faced by Palestinians.

“What we are witnessing is not an isolated incident but part of a systemic effort to erase Palestinian presence from their land,” he said.

“However, just as our ancestors resisted, we will continue to resist and remain steadfast on our land.”