“You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know, over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts that site. And I don’t know, something has to happen.”

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One as he travels from Las Vegas to Miami on Saturday. Source: AAP / Mark Schiefelbein/AP

The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, since the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel which sparked the latest flare up of the long-running conflict.

A fragile truce and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas — which was signed on the last day of former US president Joe Biden’s administration but which Trump has claimed credit for — has entered its second week.

The remains of residential buildings in Al-Balad, Rafah on 20 January. Source: ABACA / Middle East Images/PA

Trump’s new administration has promised “unwavering support” for Israel, without yet laying out details of its Middle East policy.

Shipment of bombs for Israel approved

“They paid for them, and they’ve been waiting for them for a long time.”

Trump’s son-in-law and former White House employee Jared Kushner suggested in February that Israel empty Gaza of civilians to unlock the potential of its “waterfront property.”

Trump has described Gaza as a “demolition site”, saying he had spoken to Jordan’s king about the issue. Source: AP / Jehad Alshrafi

For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark historical memories of what the Arab world calls the Nakba or ‘catastrophe’ — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation 75 years ago.

But some extreme-right members of the Israeli government have publicly supported the idea of Gazans leaving the Palestinian territory en masse.