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Trump to Gazans: Does it matter where you live?
What does it matter where you live? It's a question as old as humanity. Our ancestors first traveled the world as nomads, but once we started farming and putting down less literal roots, the land beneath our feet became a crucial part of our identity.
A handful of millennia later, it's still the question driving the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Why must Israelis live in what they call Israel? Why must Palestinians live in what they call Palestine?
With a fragile ceasefire held between Israel and Hamas, President Trump stands beside Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, during a Washington press conference. Trump stuns the world, and apparently Netanyahu, by proposing to take over the Gaza Strip and turn it into, quote, "The Riviera of the Middle East." To the thousands of displaced Gazans, he says, don't go back.
President Trump is asking Gazans the same thing I asked you moments ago: What does it matter where you live? And honestly, it is a fair question for him to ask—though he's not exactly posing the same question to Israeli settlers on the West Bank. But if the region's bloody history has shown us anything, it's not so much asking the question that matters but who gets to answer it.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
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Palestinian UN Ambassador on Trump's radical Gaza plan and the Israel-Hamas ceasefire
Listen: On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour to discuss the future of Gaza, Trump’s radical proposal, and what Palestinians want. As a fragile ceasefire holds, Trump has suggested that the US take over Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East” while relocating displaced Gazans elsewhere. The idea has been widely rejected by America’s Middle Eastern allies, but does it signal a new phase in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
For Mansour, the issue is about more than just geopolitics—it’s about identity, history, and the right to return. He rejects the idea of mass displacement, pointing to the thousands of Palestinians who have already marched back to their destroyed neighborhoods. “We have very, very strong attachment to the land, whether it is you have a palace on it or whether it is destroyed,” he says. He also warns that Trump’s plan reflects a long-standing effort to erase Palestinian identity, arguing, “The Zionist movement has been working all along to push the idea that Palestine is a land without a people.
Mansour asks whether Gaza's future will be shaped by the people who live there or by the world's most powerful people.
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Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, and Ohad Ben Ami, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack, are released by Hamas militants as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel on Feb. 8, 2025.
Hostage release sparks outrage, Israel withdraws from more of Gaza
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly shocked by their condition and vowed to bring the remaining hostages home. “Due to the harsh condition of the three hostages and the repeated violations of the Hamas terror groups,” his office said in a statement, “the prime minister has ordered that Israel will not gloss over this and will take action as needed.” Hamas, meanwhile, says it won’t release more hostages until Israel withdraws completely from Gaza.
What’s next? Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel withdrew from Gaza’s Netzarim corridor on Sunday, allowing thousands of displaced Palestinians to return north. But military operations continue: Israeli forces on Sunday killed three Palestinians in Gaza and two women in the West Bank, one of whom was pregnant, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
And as nations continue to reject US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to relocate Gaza’s inhabitants to other parts of the Middle East, Netanyahu suggested that a Palestinian state could be established in Saudi Arabia. While the Israeli PM reportedly appeared to be joking, Riyadh immediately repudiated the comments. Qatar, which is set to mediate the next round of the ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel this week, also condemned the remarks.
Silhouettes of soldiers stand in front of a computer screen displaying an image of President Donald Trump, alongside a Palestinian flag, on Feb. 05, 2025.
Trump aides scramble to clarify Gaza proposal amid backlash
Unsurprisingly, much of the world reacted with horror to US President Donald Trump’s call on Monday, at a press conference with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, for the deportation of the Gaza Strip’s 2.2 million people and a US takeover of the enclave.
But the Trump administration was forced to reckon with blowback in Washington too as lawmakers, even within the Republican Party, questioned the cost and wisdom of the plan.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified that despite Trump’s pledge to make Gaza “the Riviera of the Middle East,” the US does not intend to spend money on any Gaza reconstruction projects and that Trump’s plans did not entail “boots on the ground” in the enclave.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly fielded a barrage of questions about these issues during a closed-door session with GOP lawmakers on Wednesday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lauded Trump’s willingness to “think outside the box” but said only that the Pentagon would “look at all options.”
Sec. of State Marco Rubiosaid Trump had made a “generous” offer and contradicted his boss’s resettlement proposal by saying that the displacement of Gazans would be “temporary.”
Notably, no administration officials ruled out the core of Trump’s proposal, which was the forced removal of the entire Gazan population. According to legal scholars, this would amount to a “straightforward” crime against humanity under international law.
On Thursday, notably, the Israeli defense minister asked the army to formulate a plan under which Palestinians could “voluntarily” leave Gaza by land, air, or sea. And Trump posted to his social platform Thursday morning that the Gaza Strip will “be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting.”
A view shows Israeli tanks near the border with Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as seen from Israel, January 21, 2025.
Gaza ceasefire already in doubt
Will the Israel-Hamas ceasefire get to phase two? After the initial exchange of hostages and prisoners this past weekend, there is growing skepticism, including from the White House, that the deal will hold.
“I’m not confident. It’s not our war, it’s their war,” President Donald Trumpsaid Monday.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has threatened to resign if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not break the ceasefire once the first 42-day phase is over and continue Israel’s efforts to eradicate Hamas. This comes on the heels of far-right leader Itamar Ben-Gvir and a couple of his colleagues quitting the cabinet over the “reckless” deal, leaving Netanyahu’s government dependent on the support of opposition leader Yair Lapid for its survival – for now.
While both Israel and the US say continued Hamas control of Gaza is a nonstarter, the reality is that despite 15 months of Israeli military operations, Hamas remainsfirmly in control of the territory. At Sunday’s exchange of three female hostages, dozens of Hamas fighters surrounded the Red Cross vehicles carrying the Israelis in a show of force. Despite the killing of leader Yahya Sinwar, the group’s exiled leadership reportedly remains functional, and Sinwar’s brother Mohammed has a greater role in the organization.
A second front? While hostilities have ceased in Gaza, on Tuesday Israel launched a “counterterrorism” operation in the occupied West Bank, killing nine and injuring dozens, according to Palestinian officials. Hamas leaders condemned the violence and called on Palestinians in the territory to increase their attacks on Israelis – something that could further jeopardize the fragile peace.
Released Doron Steinbrecher embraces loved ones at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, after being held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, on Jan. 19, 2025.
Gaza ceasefire goes into effect, and three hostages are set free
Following last-minute disagreements over Israeli troop withdrawals and the identities of the hostages to be released, the Gaza ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect on Sunday.
So far, three Israeli hostages — Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher — have been reunited with their families, ending 471 days in captivity following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas. They were the first of the 33 hostages set to be released under the deal — and Israel has agreed to release 1,900 Palestinians from Israeli jails. As of early Monday local time, 90 Palestinian prisoners had already been freed.
Domestic political costs: On Sunday, Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvirresigned from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet to protest the ceasefire. He was joined by two other ministers from the far-right Jewish Power party. This leaves Netanyahu with only a slim governing majority in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Further defection could lead to the government's collapse.
Will the deal hold up? For the first phase, lasting 42 days, the incentives seem well enough aligned to keep either side from breaching the peace. Hamas needs time to reorganize and rearm, which it can achieve by releasing the 33 hostages it has promised throughout the first phase. Netanyahu, for his part, wants to deliver those hostages for voters — but after that phase is over, prospects dim.
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a beachfront cafe amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on January 14, 2025.
Gaza ceasefire seems tantalizingly close — how long could it last?
After months of negotiations mediated by the US, Egypt, and Qatar, Hamas on Tuesday accepted a draft ceasefire agreement that could bring an end to the fighting in Gaza – at least temporarily – if Israel’s cabinet approves it. Negotiators believe an agreement could be reached before Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
What’s in the deal? Hamas would release 33 of the roughly 94 remaining Israeli hostages — mostly women, children, and elderly or injured people — over six weeks in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian women and children imprisoned in Israel.
During this first phase, Israeli forces would pull out of urban areas and allow some 600 truckloads of aid to enter Gaza each day. The IDF would not pull out of Gaza entirely, however, and people attempting to return to their homes will find them largely demolished.
Then it gets tricky. The details of the second and third phases would need to be negotiated while the first phase is in progress — and Eurasia Group regional expert Greg Brew isn’t confident that the right incentives exist to find success.
“Hamas really has two sources of leverage,” he says. “The first is the hostages, and when they lose the hostages they lose any ability to influence Israeli action. The second is their continued ability to fight, and it is likely going to continue a low-level insurgency against Israel and any potential new government formed to govern Gaza.”
So why a deal? For Hamas, a respite from combat allows reorganization and rearmament. The outgoing Biden administration, meanwhile, is eager for a win before it leaves office — and it’s one Trump will surely claim even if it comes before his inauguration. Brew says the timing offers the incoming administration a fig leaf. “When the deal collapses, he can say, ‘Oh, there were flaws in place. This was a bad deal. It happened under Biden's watch.’”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu similarly gets to have his cake and eat it too by delivering the hostage releases voters have demanded without fully committing to end the war, which would infuriate his far-right coalition partners.
“Netanyahu gets everything,” says Brew. “He gets a deal that makes Trump happy, that delivers a win to the Israeli people, that quiets the opposition, and that strengthens his position.”
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after speaking to reporters before their meeting at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on May 22, 2017.
Is Trump targeting Netanyahu?
President-elect Donald Trump raised eyebrows this week by sharing a video clip on his Truth Social account that shows economist Jeffrey Sachs trashing Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The edited two-minute-long video shows Sachs accusing Netanyahu of manipulating Washington into involvement in Middle East wars the US should have avoided.
The video clip begins with what Sachs describes as dishonest US interventions in Iraq, under George W. Bush, and Syria, under Barack Obama. But the focus quickly turns to the Israeli PM. Netanyahu “is nothing if not obsessive, and he’s still trying to get us to fight Iran this day, this week,” warns Sachs, who also referred to Netanyahu in the clip as a “deep, dark son of a bitch.”
Why did Trump share this video with his nearly 8.5 million Truth Social followers? Is this a warning to Netanyahu not to attack Iran in ways that force a US intervention in a Middle East war that Trump is determined to avoid? His Cabinet picks – particularly Marco Rubio for secretary of state, Mike Waltz as national security advisor, and Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador – are considered adamantly pro-Israel.
The incoming president has criticized and threatened a number of US allies since his election win in November, and we’ll have to keep watching to see whether Trump is formulating a new Middle East strategy.