Sawt Falasteen - Netanyahu praises Trump's 'revolutionary, creative' Gaza plan

Trump set out a plan earlier this week to move the Gazans out of the territory to other countries in the region, while the United States would take charge of redeveloping it, sparking a diplomatic backlash.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, Palestinians were on Sunday able to cross the Netzarim Corridor, a strategic zone cutting the narrow territory in two, after Israeli troops were said to have withdrawn.

An official from the Hamas-run interior ministry said "Israeli forces have dismantled their positions... and completely withdrawn their tanks from the Netzarim Corridor on Salaheddin Road, allowing vehicles to pass freely in both directions."

AFP journalists saw no troops in the area as cars, buses, pickup trucks and donkey carts travelled both north and south along the road.

Gaza resident Mahmoud al-Sarhi said that "arriving at the Netzarim Corridor meant death until this morning".

This is "the first time I saw our destroyed house," he told AFP of his home in the nearby Zeitun area.

"The entire area is in ruins. I cannot live here."

A senior Hamas official said the Israeli withdrawal from Netzarim had been scheduled for Sunday under the terms of the truce that took effect on January 19.

- 'I thought you were dead' -

Asked about Sunday's withdrawal, an Israeli security official told AFP on condition of anonymity: "We are preparing to implement the ceasefire agreement according to the guidelines of the political echelon."

This came as Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces shot dead three civilians in Gaza City north of Netzarim Sunday, with the military saying it fired "warning shots" and hit Palestinians who had approached troops.

The Gaza war began with Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, and the ceasefire agreed ahead of US President Donald Trump's inauguration has largely halted the fighting.

The 2023 attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the war has killed at least 48,181 people in the territory.

Under the current ceasefire, Israel and Hamas on Saturday completed their fifth hostage-prisoner exchange, with three Israeli hostages and 183 Palestinian prisoners released.

The release also brought the first indication in 16 months that hostage Alon Ohel is alive.

"After 492 days of uncertainty, we received our first sign of life today -- our Alon is alive," his family said in a statement released by campaign group Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

"He is wounded and not receiving medical treatment," the family said, noting the injury was to his eye.

Halfway around the world in Bangkok on Sunday, five Thai farm workers held hostage by Hamas and freed in an earlier swap wept with joy as they returned home.

"You are back, I thought you were dead," the grandfather of 33-year-old Watchara Sriaoun told him.

- 'Fantasies' -

Trump sparked global outrage by suggesting on Tuesday the United States should take control of the Gaza Strip and clear out its inhabitants.

Upon his return to Israel from the US, Netanyahu reiterated his support for the proposal during a cabinet meeting.

"President Trump came with a completely different, much better vision for Israel -- a revolutionary, creative approach that we are currently discussing" the Israeli prime minister said.

"He is very determined to implement it, and I believe it opens up many, many possibilities for us," he added.

Israel's defence minister earlier in the week ordered the army to prepare for "voluntary" departures from Gaza.

Netanyahu on Saturday ordered negotiators to return to Qatar, which helped mediate the truce, "to discuss technical details of the agreement", his office said.

But senior Hamas official Bassem Naim on Saturday warned that Israel's "lack of commitment in implementing the first phase... exposes this agreement to danger and thus it may stop or collapse".

With the region already on edge over Trump's proposed displacement of Palestinians, Netanyahu sparked fury when he said in a television interview that a Palestinian state -- which he has long opposed -- could be "in Saudi Arabia".

The Saudi foreign ministry stressed its "categorical rejection to such statements", while Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said such ideas "are nothing more than mere fantasies or illusions".

Egypt will host an Arab summit on February 27 to discuss "the latest serious developments" concerning the Palestinian territories, its foreign ministry said Sunday.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty was heading to Washington for talks, and Jordan's King Abdullah II was due to meet Trump at the White House on February 11.

H.Darwish--SF-PST