SIXTY-FOUR per cent of Americans oppose President Donald Trump’s proposal for the US to ‘take over’ and ‘own’ the Gaza Strip and transform it into what he described as the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’, according to a recent survey.
A significant portion of those polled expressed strong opposition, with 47pc saying they ‘strongly’ oppose the plan and 17pc saying they ‘somewhat’ oppose it, revealed the survey, conducted by progressive think tank and polling firm Data for Progress.
Among Democratic voters, 85pc opposed the idea, while 43pc of Republicans were against it. Meanwhile, 46pc of Republican respondents supported the proposal.
The poll, which surveyed 1,200 respondents across the US, outlined that such a plan would involve ‘forcibly resettling’ the roughly 1.8 million Palestinians currently living in Gaza to neighbouring countries.
“A strong majority of voters are against the US assuming control over Gaza and displacing its Palestinian population,” Data for Progress said in its findings.
Trump’s proposal to forcibly displace Palestinians, which has been widely rejected by Palestinians and the broader Arab and Muslim world, comes amid a fragile ceasefire agreement that took effect in Gaza on January 19, pausing Israel’s 15-month onslaught, which has killed more than 48,200 people and left the enclave in ruins.
Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza for years, effectively turning it into the world’s largest open-air prison. More than two-thirds of Democrats in the House of Representatives have separately urged Trump to retract remarks proposing the US ‘takeover’ of the Gaza Strip, calling it ‘morally indefensible’, according to the US media.
Axios reported, citing a letter signed by 145 of the 215 House Democrats, that legislators warned that the move would ‘not only be morally indefensible’, but harm the US’ global standing, put American troops in harm’s way and fuel terrorism.
The letter was led by Representatives Sean Casten from Illinois and Brad Sherman of California.
l Hamas announced that it would release hostages Iair Horn, US-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen and Russian-Israeli Alexandre Sasha Troufanov today, in accordance with the terms of the ceasefire with Israel.
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