Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Jerusalem

We’ve just been speaking with journalist Tariq Dahlan, who stresses that the “people in Gaza, like in all the world, are deeply connected to the place where they were born, raised and have been living all their lives”.

He says he has lived through several wars and has had the opportunity to leave Gaza since 7 October 2023, but decided not to.

“Every one of us is deeply connected to our homes and we would reject any eviction,” he says on the phone from central Gaza.

“We will stay put on this land even though there is death and destruction.”

Image source, Reuters

Outrage from rival Democratic politicians to Trump's proposal has been swift - and there are even some sceptical voices within Donald Trump's own Republican Party, over whom he has a tight grip.

Senator Lindsey Graham says a potential American takeover of Gaza would be "problematic", suggesting the South Carolinians he represented may "not be excited" about the idea. At any rate, he said, the US would have to "see what our Arab friends say about that".

Another Republican US senator, Thom Tillis, says Trump's idea seemed "a bit of a stretch", and may not make sense "even for Israel". And Senator Josh Hawley tells reporters: "I don't know that I think it's the best use of United States resources to spend a bunch of money in Gaza."

Others in Trump's party have been more circumspect, declined to comment, or been supportive. They include House Speaker Mike Johnson - who praised Trump's "bold action in hopes of achieving lasting peace" - and Nancy Mace, a congresswoman who said Gaza could be made to resemble Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Image source, Getty Images

As we've been reporting, many world leaders have responded to Donald Trump's comments on Gaza by reiterating the need for a two-state solution.

Trump ducked a question on this last night, but what does this proposal for peace in the region actually look like?

The "two-state solution" is an internationally backed formula for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

It proposes an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It would exist alongside Israel.

Israel rejects a two-state solution. It says any final settlement must be the result of negotiations with the Palestinians, and statehood should not be a precondition.

The Palestinian Authority backs a two-state solution but Hamas does not because it is opposed to the existence of Israel.

Hamas says that it could accept an interim Palestinian state based on 1967 de facto borders, without officially recognising Israel, if refugees were given the right to return.

Earlier efforts to settle the conflict saw Israel and Palestinian leaders sign a deal called the Oslo Peace Accords, in 1993. This was intended to provide a framework for peace talks. However, talks eventually collapsed with each side blaming the other.

In addition to Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, the international community has roundly condemned Donald Trump's comments on a possible US "take over" of Gaza.

Many officials are stressing the importance of a two-state solution in the region:

The UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy reiterates the country's commitment to a two-state solution. "We must see Palestinians live and prosper in their homelands in Gaza and the West Bank," he tells reporters on a trip to Kyiv.

The foreign ministry in France releases a statement repeating its opposition to "any forced displacement of the Palestinian population of Gaza", and says the territory should not be controlled by a third party. It says a two-state solution is "the only one that can guarantee long-term peace" for Israelis and Palestinians.

In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that a settlement in the Middle East is only possible by implementing a two-state solution, according to Reuters news agency.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry says it "rejects any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land". It adds it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.

Both China and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese back the need for a two-state solution.

Turkey's foreign minister says any plans leaving Palestinians "out of the equation" would result in more conflict.

Image source, Reuters

Egypt's foreign minister met the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in Cairo today, where the pair jointly rejected Donald Trump's plans for the US to "take over" of Gaza, according to an Egyptian foreign ministry statement, external.

The statement says the meeting between Abdel Aati and Mohamed Mustafa emphasised the "importance of moving forward with early recovery projects and programs, removing rubble, and providing humanitarian aid at an accelerated pace".

This needs to be completed "without Palestinians leaving the Gaza Strip, especially with their attachment to their land and their refusal to leave it", it says.

It adds that Egypt's minister "stressed Egypt's support for the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, emphasizing the need to strive to reach a permanent and just political solution to the Palestinian issue through the two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state".

Image source, Reuters

The president and wider leadership of the Palestinian Authority has "strongly rejected" Donald Trump's suggestion that the US "take over" the Gaza Strip.

They expresses their "strong rejection of calls to seize the Gaza Strip and displace Palestinians outside their homeland", according to a statement from President Mahmoud Abbas's office, translated by the AFP news agency.

It adds that "legitimate Palestinian rights are not negotiable" and Gaza "is an integral part of the State of Palestine".

In a separate statement, Abbas calls Trump's plans "a serious violation of international law".

The Palestinian news agency, Wafa, translated his remarks as saying: "We will not allow the rights of our people, for which we have struggled for decades and made great sacrifices to achieve, to be infringed upon."

He adds that peace and stability in the region will not be achieved without the establishment of the Palestinian state, based on the two-state solution.

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Jerusalem

I’ve just received a WhatsApp message from Rewaa Mohsen, a nurse in the city of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, describing Donald Trump’s remarks as "nonsense".

"I don’t give a damn about what he is saying… he will not force us to go or leave," she writes.

"The Israeli army killed us but we remain in our destroyed houses. We don’t need life outside our land and we will not move one metre away from it so he can say whatever he wants – he can’t beat us."

The Visual Journalism Team
BBC News

A Gaza ceasefire deal has been reached, but 15 months of fighting have had a devastating impact on the coastal Palestinian territory.

Before the war, most of Gaza's 2.2 million people lived in its four main cities - Rafah and Khan Younis in the south, Deir al-Balah, in the centre, and Gaza City, which was home to 775,000 people - but almost the whole population has now been displaced.

Aside from the human toll, the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) has warned it will take a long time to repair the damage in Gaza.

It describes the water and sanitation systems as "almost entirely defunct", warns of mounting rubbish around camps and shelters and of the risk that chemicals from destroyed solar panels and the munitions being used will contaminate soil and water supplies.

And it estimates more than 50 million tonnes of debris has accumulated from the destruction.

UNEP says it could take 21 years just to clear the debris and explosive remnants of war.

"The significant and growing environmental damage in Gaza risks locking its people into a painful, long recovery," executive director Inger Andersen said.

• Read more: How 15 months of war have drastically changed life in Gaza

President Trump's remarks on Tuesday will "pour fuel on the fire" in the Middle East, Hamas says in a new statement condemning his proposed US takeover of Gaza "in the strongest terms".

"Such remarks are hostile to our people and our cause, and will not benefit stability in the region," the group says.

"We call on the American administration and President Trump to walk back from these irresponsible remarks that contradict international law and the basic rights of our Palestinian people on their land," it adds.

The group also calls on the Arab League and United Nations to hold urgent meetings to address the "dangerous remarks" and take a "strong stance" that preserves Palestinian rights.

On Tuesday, shortly after Trump gave his White House press conference, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri called the proposal "ridiculous" and "absurd".

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Jerusalem

We’ve been getting reaction to Donald Trump’s comments from civilians in Gaza.

“I am waiting to rebuild our house and live in it, and neither Trump nor anybody else matters to us,” Jamalat Wadi tells the BBC.

“If there is only one drop of blood left in our children, we won't go out of Gaza, and we won't give up on it,” she says. “We will live on our rubble as if nothing happened, and Gaza will be rebuilt.”

Mahmoud Bahjat says that when he heard about Trump’s comments he “wished to God for Arab countries to refuse such a thing, because we have lived and grown here”.

“This is our land and we can't live anywhere else other than in Gaza. Gaza is our land, we have grown here, how can we leave it? We are against Trump's decision. He ended the war but displacing us would end our lives.”

Earlier on, we brought you some of Trump's remarks around his proposal to resettle people currently living in Gaza

He suggested Palestinians could instead be housed in parts of Jordan, Egypt and other nearby countries - "some place where they can live and not die" - an assertion which has been flatly rejected by the nations he named.

You can watch his comments back in full below:

Image source, EPA

The former US ambassador to Israel says Donald Trump is looking at the crisis in Gaza as “a real estate building problem”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Dennis Ross says: “I really think he seems to intend this more as: ‘We’re gonna transform an area that has always been impoverished’.”

For Trump, “it’s a real estate building problem, it’s not a political problem”, Ross says.

"The problem I think for President Trump is that in the region, it's looked at as a political issue," he adds.

Trump spent decades as a property developer before entering politics. His Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, also has a real estate background.

Witkoff summed up much of the tone around Trump's proposal on Tuesday, saying of the president: "This guy knows real estate."

And speaking ahead of the Trump-Netanyahu meeting on Tuesday, Witkoff said it would take 10-15 years to rebuild Gaza. He later told Fox News that Palestinians could have a "better life" by leaving the territory.

It's not only Gaza that the US president has been commenting on over the past 24 hours.

Last night, Donald Trump was asked by a reporter about his stance on Israel's occupation of the West Bank.

He said people "do like the idea" of Israel claiming sovereignty over the land there, "but we haven't taken a position on it yet."

He adds that discussions with Israeli representatives are under way and "we'll be making an announcement probably on that very specific topic over the next four weeks".

For context:

• Under international law, the West Bank is a Palestinian territory, however many Israelis believe the land to be part of their biblical homeland and want Israeli sovereignty over it. It remains that Israeli settlement of the area is illegal under international law
• Last month, Trump issued an executive order lifting sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank
• During his last term in office, Trump recognised Jerusalem, part of which is in the West Bank, as the capital of Israel and stated that the American embassy would be relocated from Tel Aviv

Image source, Reuters

Gaza has suffered vast destruction with a colossal humanitarian impact over the 15 months of war.

More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and much of its infrastructure has been completely levelled by air strikes.

The United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) reports that 69% of all structures in Gaza had been destroyed or damaged at the start of December.

Further, it says 68% of the road network in the strip had been damaged or destroyed.

Its figures on the health system show that half of Gaza's hospitals are closed, with the others just partially functional - meaning many of those still open lack the ability to treat chronic diseases and complex injuries.

For a more in depth look: How 15 months of war has devastated Gaza

Image source, Reuters

A civilian living in Gaza says he is "disgusted" over Donald Trump’s stated proposal to resettle the territory's population.

Akram lives between Rafah and Khan Younis in the south of Gaza. He has seen many of his temporary neighbours return to their homes in the north since Israel reopened crossings after the ceasefire agreement was reached.

And although the UN estimates that around 70% of Gaza's buildings have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the recent conflict on 7 October 2023, Akram suggests that Palestinians would rather remain in temporary accommodation than be relocated to another country.

“People are resilient and they are still willing to live and still willing to continue and I don’t think they are going to leave their homes,” he tells the BBC World Service's Newsday programme.

"People have been struggling for the sake of accessing water, accessing transportation, accessing anything that has to do with a decent life, and they have never considered leaving this land, and I think that is continuous and they are not planning to leave this land.”

At his news conference with Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump suggested that the US taking ownership of Gaza would create stability in the Middle East.

Akram rejects this, arguing that it would "bring more destruction and fighting to the different regions, not only Gaza but also the surrounding countries".

Earlier on Tuesday, President Donald Trump sat down for a conversation with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, in front of reporters, during which he suggested Palestinians should leave Gaza to be housed in parts of Jordan, Egypt and other nearby countries.

If the resettlement arrangements were “really nice”, Palestinians would not want to return, Trump asserted.

This proposal is not new. The president previously raised the idea while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One last month.

The leaders of Egypt and Jordan flatly rejected the idea at the time, and a joint statement from several Middle Eastern countries and organisations warned the move could "threaten the region’s stability, risk expanding the conflict, and undermine prospects for peace and coexistence among its peoples".

After Trump's comments last night, Saudi Arabia reasserted its "firm and unwavering" position that it will not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.

And Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, said Gazans wanted to return to their homes and rebuild "because this is where they belong and they love to live there".

"I think that leaders should respect the wishes of the Palestinian people," he added.

Shortly after Trump gave his White House press conference - in which he said he wanted the US to "take over" Gaza - Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri called the proposal "ridiculous" and "absurd".

"Any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region," he said, according to the Reuters news agency.

Abu Zuhri also responded to Trump's earlier suggestion that Gazans should be resettled in nearby countries, calling it a "recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region".

"Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass. What is required is an end to the occupation and aggression against our people, not their expulsion from their land," he told multiple media outlets.

Trump's comments comes amid continuing mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas, on the crucial second stage of the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Is any of this serious? With Trump, it’s hard to tellpublished at 07:24 Greenwich Mean Time 5 February

07:24 GMT 5 February

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Even by Donald Trump’s standards, this was head-spinning stuff.

The United States, he says, is going to take over the Gaza Strip and turn it into a Middle Eastern Riviera.

A place full of jobs and opportunity, populated by people from all over the world, including some Palestinians.

But the bulk of those who have lived there for more than seven decades will be gone – for good.

Trump says his ideas have widespread support, but there’s no sign of that in the Middle East. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have all condemned them.

The president also sounded an ominous note about the future of the other Palestinian territory, the West Bank.

Trump said he was thinking of endorsing the idea of Israel having sovereignty there and would have an announcement in the next four weeks.

He said this had nothing to do with the prospects for a two-state solution.

Is any of this serious? With Trump, it’s hard to tell.

But he upended decades of US Middle East policy during his first term in office - and seems poised to do the same now.

What did Trump say about the US taking over Gaza?

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.

“Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out and create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.

“We'll do a real job. Do something different. Just can't go back. If you go back, it's going to be the same way it has for 100 years.”

A little later, Trump was questioned on what authority he has to remove the population of 1.8 million people from Gaza.

He replied: “I do see a long term ownership position, and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East, and maybe the entire Middle East, and everybody I've spoken to, this was not a decision made lightly.

“Everybody I've spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent in a really magnificent area that nobody would know.”

What did Trump say about resettling people who currently live in Gaza?

Shortly before their press conference, Trump spoke with Netanyahu in front of reporters in the White House, where he made these comments:

"If you look over the decades, it's all death in Gaza. This has been happening for years, it's all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people permanently in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed, not be knifed to death like what's happening in Gaza...

"I believe we can resettle, and I believe we can do it in areas where the leaders currently say no."

What did Trump say the solution in Gaza might look like?

At the end of the press conference, Trump spelled out his vision for how Gaza might look in the future:

"I envision people living there, the world's people. I think we'll make that into an international unbelievable place. I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable.

"I think the entire world - representatives from all over the world - will be there, Palestinians also will live there, many people will live there...

"You have to learn from history, you just can't let it keep repeating itself. We have an opportunity to do something phenomenal. I don't want to be cute, I don't want to be a wise guy, but the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something so magnificent.

"We'll make sure that it's done world class, it will be wonderful for the people, Palestinians mostly we're talking about. And despite them saying no, I have a feeling that the King in Jordan and that Egypt will open their hearts and give us the kind of land that we need to get this done, and people can live in harmony and peace."

Separately, the White House has released the text of two new presidential actions signed by Donald Trump yesterday.

The first is a memorandum instructing the US government to impose "maximum pressure" on Iran.

It says that the US must end the "previous administration's tolerance of Iran’s threats to American citizens and companies", and that Trump will "not tolerate Iran possessing a nuclear weapons capability".

He also signed an executive order extending a halt to funding for the Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa.

"Executive departments and agencies shall not use any funds for a contribution, grant, or other payment to Unrwa," the order reads.

It says the agency "has reportedly been infiltrated by members of groups long designated by the [US] as foreign terrorist organizations", and that its employees were involved in the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel.

Israel has accused 18 Unrwa employees of taking part in the attack. A UN investigation then found that nine employees may have been involved and the agency fired them. However, UN officials reject most of Israel's accusations against it and insist Unrwa is impartial.