U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion to evict Palestinians from Gaza and take control of the territory has sparked widespread outrage, potentially upending Washington’s longstanding Israeli-Palestinian policies.

“The United States will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will manage it well. “We’ll own it,” Trump stated during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on February 4. Details regarding how the radical proposal, which was first announced last month, would function were unclear, including under what authority the US could take control of the Gaza Strip and how the 2.3 million Palestinians would be moved. Many respected Middle Eastern foreign policy professionals believe the proposal is impractical and urge the US administration to reconsider its approach in light of the strong criticism it has faced.

“This has no realistic prospect, and I think once the administration sees the opposition, they’ll pull back from this whole thing,” said Azriel Bermant, a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague. A cease-fire agreement hangs in the balance. There are also concerns that the move could jeopardize a fragile cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the US and EU-designated Palestinian terrorist group that has controlled Gaza since 2007. The multiphase cease-fire, which began last month, halted more than a year of warfare in exchange for the release of Israeli captives and Palestinian inmates.

“The fear is that [Trump’s proposal] could do damage to the possibilities of getting the remaining hostages out,” Bermant told reporters.

The key second phase of the cease-fire deal anticipates a permanent stop to the war, but negotiations have not yet begun to iron out the details and put it into action. “There is a risk that this could hurt efforts” to agree on and carry out the second phase of the cease-fire, Bermant said. Allies and adversaries take up arms Prominent Arab states, including those that have mended relations with Israel, have unanimously rejected Trump’s latest demand that Egypt and Jordan admit Gaza inhabitants. Now, Trump has upped the game, claiming that he not only wants Gazans removed, but that the US aims to seize control and transform Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East.” Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas rejected Trump’s plan

and said that “legitimate Palestinian rights are not negotiable.”

U.S. allies and adversaries have also criticized the plan and renewed calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The French Foreign Ministry asserted that relocating Palestinians would be a “serious violation of international law” and insisted that Gaza cannot be controlled by “a third state.”and said that “legitimate Palestinian rights are not negotiable.”

U.S. allies and adversaries have also criticized the plan and renewed calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The French Foreign Ministry asserted that relocating Palestinians would be a “serious violation of international law” and insisted that Gaza cannot be controlled by “a third state.”

The French Foreign Ministry stated that removing Palestinians would be a “serious violation of international law” and that Gaza cannot be ruled by “a third state.”