Egypt, Hamas, and the Palestine Liberation Organization welcomed Thursday U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement assuring that Palestinians would not be expelled from Gaza.
It was not immediately clear whether Trump's remarks signaled backtracking from his proposed plan to take over the Palestinian territory, displacing its population to neighboring countries.
"Nobody's expelling any Palestinians," Trump said in the White House on Wednesday, dismissing a question from a reporter who asked whether plans to "expel Palestinians out of Gaza" were under discussion with visiting Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin.
Egypt, which with the United States and Qatar, is mediating truce talks between Hamas and Israel, "expressed its appreciation for U.S. President Donald Trump's statements ... regarding not demanding residents of the Gaza Strip to leave."
In a Foreign Ministry statement, it called Trump's statement a "positive direction" that must be built on to advance efforts for peace.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem, in turn, applauded what he said was a "clear retreat" from the U.S. proposal for Gaza.
"Trump's statements regarding not expelling Gaza's residents are welcome," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Trump's proposal has been widely rejected, including by U.S. allies and countered with an Arab plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority.
"We appreciate the statements of the U.S. president in which he confirmed that the residents of the Gaza Strip are not required to leave their homeland," Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the PLO, a Palestinian umbrella group of factions that excludes Hamas, wrote on X.
The Egyptian-led plan was put forward by the Arab League and adopted by the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
