Hamas official welcomes Trump’s apparent retreat on call to displace Gazans

Palestinians gather to receive bread from a bakery, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. (Courtesy: Reuters photo)

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem welcomed on Wednesday US President Donald Trump’s apparent retreat from his proposal for a permanent displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, urging him to refrain from aligning with the vision of the "extreme Zionist right."

The statement by the Hamas official came after Trump said on Wednesday that "nobody is expelling any Palestinians from Gaza" in response to a question during a meeting in the White House with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.

"If US President Trump's statements represent a retreat from any idea of ​​displacing the people of the Gaza Strip, they are welcomed," Qassem said in the statement.

"We (Hamas) call for this position to be reinforced by obligating the Israeli occupation to implement all the terms of the ceasefire agreements."

Last month, Trump proposed a US takeover of Gaza where Israel's military assault in the last 17 months has killed tens of thousands, after he earlier suggested that Palestinians in the enclave should be permanently displaced.

On Sunday, Taher Al-Nono, political adviser to the leader of Hamas, confirmed unprecedented, direct talks with Washington in the Qatari capital over the past week, focusing on the release of an American-Israeli dual national being held by the militant group in Gaza.

He added that the meetings between Hamas leaders and US hostage negotiator Adam Boehler had also discussed how to see through the implementation of the phased agreement aimed at ending the Israel-Gaza war.

Israel and Hamas signaled on Saturday they were preparing for the next phase of ceasefire negotiations, as mediators pushed ahead with talks to extend a 42-day truce that began in January.

A Hamas delegation met in the past two days with Egyptian mediators and reaffirmed its readiness to negotiate the next phase of the ceasefire. Israel sent negotiators to Doha on Monday for ceasefire talks.

The discussions between Boehler and Hamas have broken with a decades-old policy by Washington against negotiating with groups that the U.S. brands as terrorist organisations.

The Islamist militant group carried out a cross-border raid into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering a devastating war in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.