On Monday, President Donald J. Trump warned that he would cut aid to Jordan and Egypt if they rejected his demand to permanently accept the majority of Gaza Arabs in their territories. The warning escalated Trump’s pressure on his two Mid-Eastern allies to support his plan of relocating Gaza’s entire population for the duration of redevelopment works in the Strip and longer.
Earlier, Egyptian and Jordanian officials expressed concerns that a large-scale displacement of Gaza’s residents into their countries could lead to the formation of terrorist strongholds along their borders with Israel.
Both nations have warned of potential repercussions from President Trump’s proposal to expel Gaza’s population to their territories.
Egyptian security officials fear that the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Hamas operatives through the Rafah crossing into the Sinai region could destabilize the border and jeopardize the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.
You’ll note that, much like Israel, the Egyptians don’t believe there are “uninvolved civilians” in Gaza since they are all members or affiliates of Hamas. Since the Arab Spring of 2010, Egypt has been fighting the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an extremist terrorist offshoot.
In Jordan, authorities emphasize that the kingdom’s political climate is already fragile, particularly after the Muslim Brotherhood’s significant gains in last September’s parliamentary elections.
The Society of the Muslim Brothers, commonly known as the Muslim Brotherhood, is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt in 1928 by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna. Al-Banna’s ideology has had a lasting impact beyond Egypt, shaping various Islamist movements, including charitable organizations and political parties worldwide.
The Muslim Brotherhood has received primary state support from Qatar and Turkey under Erdogan’s AKP government. As of 2015, several countries, including Bahrain, Egypt, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, have designated the Brotherhood as a terrorist group.
In 2023, aid to Egypt (population 112.7 million) from all US agencies totaled $1.43 billion, with $1.44 billion requested for 2024. Currently, Egypt ranks third in the region, after Israel and Jordan, in terms of assistance funds requested for 2024 (figures for 2025 are not available).
As to Jordan (population 11.34 million), in 2022, the US signed a seven-year, $10.15 billion MOU reflecting the commitment of the United States to Jordan’s stability and prosperity. The MOU is the largest and longest such agreement in the 75-year history of bilateral relations between Jordan and the United States (figures for 2025 are not available).
As noted, both Jordan and Egypt, both key recipients of US military and economic aid, have firmly rejected any proposal to relocate Gaza Arabs within their borders, and President Trump warned that their lavish aid could be in jeopardy.
“If they don’t agree, I could conceivably withhold aid,” Trump told reporters one day ahead of his Tuesday meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan.
He added: “I think I could make a deal with Jordan. I think I could make a deal with Egypt.”
In an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News, Trump shared his most detailed vision yet for relocating Gaza’s population to Jordan, Egypt, and other nations.
“We’ll build safe communities a little bit away from where they are, away from all of this danger,” Trump pitched his message. “In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land.”
The relocated Gazans “would have much better housing” than they do today, Trump stressed, and would presumably not ask or need to return.
“I’m talking about building a permanent place for them,” Trump promised.
