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No US soldiers would be needed in Gaza plan, Trump says
US President Donald Trump has restated a vision in which the US would take over Gaza, after officials in his administration appeared to contradict his earlier comments.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” Trump said on Thursday. He reiterated that the idea would mean resettling Palestinians, and that no US soldiers would be needed.
Trump’s resettlement idea has prompted accusations that he is planning ethnic cleansing, and has drawn condemnation from the UN, human rights groups and Arab leaders. Analysts doubt it will ever happen.
After Trump’s first comments on the issue, his officials suggested any relocation would be only temporary.
Under his plan, Trump wrote, Gazans “would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region”. The US would then be part of an effort to redevelop the enclave, he said.
His post, written on Truth Social, did not make clear whether the two million residents of the Palestinian territory would be invited to return.
Under international law, attempts to forcibly transfer populations from occupied territory are strictly prohibited.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that any displacement would be temporary. In his own comments, made on the same day, Secretary of State Rubio said the idea was for Gazans to leave the territory for an “interim” period while debris was cleared and reconstruction took place.
These views contradicted Trump’s initial comments on the matter. Speaking on Tuesday, when he proposed the development of Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”, Trump suggested that the displacement of Palestinians would be permanent.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too,” he said on Tuesday during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called the idea “worth paying attention to”.
The announcement took even senior Trump aides by surprise due to a lack of planning around the idea, the New York Times reported, citing four anonymous sources with knowledge of the discussions.
Trump’s fresh comment on Thursday that no American soldiers would be needed was more clearly in agreement with Leavitt, who said the US had not committed to putting “boots on the ground”.
Fifteen months of fighting have left the Gaza Strip, a territory 41km (25 miles) long and 10km (6 miles) wide, largely uninhabitable.
Entire districts have been razed to the ground. Agricultural land where greenhouses once stood has been reduced to sand and rubble.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned that it could take 21 years to remove and dispose of all debris.
It described the water and sanitation systems as “almost entirely defunct”, warned of mounting rubbish around camps and shelters, and highlighted the risk that chemicals from destroyed solar panels and the munitions being used could contaminate soil and water supplies.
More than 50 million tonnes of debris have accumulated as a result of the destruction, according to the UN body.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
More than 47,550 people have been killed and 111,600 injured in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
[BBC]
President Anura Kumara Disanayake stated that steps will be taken to provide the necessary facilities to eliminate organized crime and drug abuse, as well as to introduce new legislation.
The President made these remarks during a discussion held today (18) at the Presidential Secretariat with the police chiefs of the Western Province.
He emphasized that maintaining the rule of law is a key responsibility of the Police Department.
President Anura Kumara Disanayake further stated that a just society cannot be established in Sri Lanka without ensuring the supremacy of the rule of law.
Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, Ananda Wijepala; Deputy Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, Attorney-at-Law Sunil Watagala; Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security, Ravi Seneviratne; Acting Inspector General of Police, Priyantha Weerasooriya; and several Western Province police chiefs were also present at the event.
The Aswasuma Welfare Benefit payment Scheme has been implementing from 01-07-2023 and this scheme has been finally amended by the Extra Ordinary Gazette No 2415/66 dated 21-12-2024.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the President, in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, to publish the following through a Gazette Notification, amending the benefits provided under the presently empowered Aswasuma Welfare Benefit payment Scheme within the provisions allocated by the budget estimate for the year 2025.
• To extend the period of entitlement of benefits for the transitional social category included in schedule 1 of the Aswasuma Welfare Benefit payment Scheme up to 30-04-2025.
• To increase the monthly assistance payment from Rs. 7,500 to Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 5,000 provided to persons with disabilities and receiving treatment for kidney diseases and elderly persons, respectively, that are included in Schedule II of the said scheme and to
implement the said decision from April 2025.
• To extend the period of payment provided for the disable persons, kidney patients, and elderly persons given in the Schedule II, up to 31-12-2025 subject to the above proposals.
• Even though the payment of allowances under the transitional social category will be stopped after April 2025, the period of payment for disabled persons, kidney patients, and elderly persons, of these families will be extended up to 31-12-2025.
• Payment of relevant eligible persons by inclusion of newly forwarded applications of disabled and kidney patients subject to the maximum limit up to 31-12-2025.
Latest News
Fertilizer, financial subsidy to farmers who are cultivating the paddy in the Yala season 2025
The Cabinet of Ministers has decided to grant the approval to provide a financial subsidy for the farmers who are cultivating paddy in the yala season 2025 and for the farmers who are cultivating other crops in the paddy land, taking into consideration the proposal presented by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands, and Irrigation.
Two books written based on parliamentary legacy presented to PM
Strengthen law enforcement processes to protect public law and order without any external influence – President
President holds discussions with Western Province Police chiefs
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