World condemns Trump’s US Gaza takeover plan

President Donald Trump‘s announcement of a plan to “take over” the Gaza Strip and forcibly expel its Palestinian population has been met with universal outrage, with even the US’s closest allies rejecting the idea as unacceptable and illegal.

During a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump boasted that Arab leaders supported his proposal, claiming it would bring “stability” to the region.

Yet, within hours, governments across the world – including major Arab states, European powers, and the United Nations – issued statements denouncing the plan as a flagrant violation of international law and a dangerous escalation in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

From Riyadh to Berlin, Cairo to Beijing, Trump’s vision for Gaza has been dismissed as “racist”, “colonial”, and “unthinkable”.

Meanwhile, in Israel, the proposal was enthusiastically embraced across the political spectrum, further solidifying Trump’s alignment with Netanyahu’s hardline government.

Here’s how the world reacted to Trump’s shocking proposal.

The Middle East

“I spoke to other leaders in the Middle East and they love the idea. They say it would really bring stability,” Trump claimed during his joint press conference with the Israeli prime minister on Tuesday.

Reaction from the region the following day told a different story, with Arab states expressing outrage at the president’s comments.

Trump’s plan was condemned by all Palestinian factions. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Hussein Al-Sheikh, both rejected Trump’s statements while Hamas dismissed them as “ridiculous and absurd”.

“The American racist stance aligns with the Israeli extreme right’s position in displacing our people and eliminating our cause,” a spokesperson for the group said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia issued a strongly-worded statement expressing its “unequivocal rejection” of plans to displace the Palestinians and explicitly ruling out a normalisation pact with Israel without an independent Palestinian state.

This is “non-negotiable and not subject to compromise”, it said.

Egypt’s immediate official response was less forthright, with the foreign ministry calling for the reconstruction of Gaza “without the Palestinians leaving”.

The reaction among the pro-Sisi commentariat was less diplomatic, with high-profile state media journalists expressing outrage at Trump’s “colonial” scheme.

Talk show host Ahmed Moussa called it “the most dangerous moment” since the 1967 war and called on the Arab world to “reject the new American colonialism”.

Egypt, along with Jordan, is under pressure from the Trump administration to take in the 2.2 million Palestinians living in Gaza.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II “rejects any attempts to annex lands and displace Palestinians,” a statement from the royal court said Wednesday.

Turkey’s top diplomat, Hakan Fidan, described the plan as “unacceptable”.

The expulsion of Palestinians is something “neither we nor the region can accept,” the foreign minister said. “It is wrong to even bring it up for discussion.”

The world

America’s closest allies in Europe unanimously condemned Trump’s proposal, with Germany’s foreign minister calling it “unacceptable” and France describing it as “a serious violation of international law”.

Speaking in parliament, British prime minister Keir Starmer said Palestinians “must be allowed” to remain in Gaza.

Other global powers had similar responses, with China, Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia all pushing back on  

“China has always maintained that Palestinian rule over Palestinians is the basic principle of the post-war governance of Gaza, and we are opposed to the forced transfer of the residents of Gaza,” China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.

The UN human rights chief said that the plan would violate international law.

“Any forcible transfer in or deportation of people from occupied territory is strictly prohibited,” Volker Turk said.

Israel

Trump’s comments were welcomed across the political spectrum, with opposition figures Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid joining with Netanyahu’s Likud and the far-right to express approval.

Lapid, a staunch critic of Netanyahu’s government, lauded the announcement as “good for the state of Israel”, while Gantz called the US president a “true friend of Israel”.

“Thank you, President Trump,” far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on X. “Together, we will make the world great again.”

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the extremist former national security minister, lauded the decision and called on Netanyahu to immediately begin “encouraging the migration” of Gazans.