Gaza 'clean out' floated as Brazilians deported in handcuffs

US President Donald Trump floated a plan to "just clean out" Gaza, and said he wants Egypt and Jordan to take Palestinians from the territory, as a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas aimed at permanently ending the war entered its second week yesterday.

The truce deal that came into effect on January 19 saw four Israeli hostages and around 200 Palestinian prisoners released to joyful scenes over the weekend, in the second such exchange so far.

But after 15 months of war, Trump called Gaza a "demolition site" and said he had spoken to Jordan's King Abdullah II about moving Palestinians out of the territory. Trump was also expected to talk to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi yesterday.

Most Gazans are Palestinian refugees or their descendants.

For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark historical memories of what the Arab world calls the "Nakba" or catastrophe - the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation 75 years ago. Egypt has previously warned against any "forced displacement" of Palestinians from Gaza into the Sinai desert, which Sisi said could jeopardize the peace treaty Egypt signed with Israel in 1979.

"You're talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing," Trump said of Gaza, whose population is about 2.4 million.

"I'd rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change," Trump said.

Trump also confirmed he had ordered the Pentagon to release a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs for Israel which was blocked by his predecessor Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, Brazil expressed outrage on Saturday after dozens of immigrants deported from the US arrived by plane in handcuffs, calling it a "flagrant disregard" for their rights and demanded an explanation.

Some 88 Brazilians were aboard the aircraft which landed in the northern city of Manaus, said officials.

A government source said the deportation flight was not directly linked to any immigration orders issued by Trump upon taking office, but stemmed from a 2017 bilateral agreement.

Edgar Da Silva Moura, 31, a computer technician, was on the flight, after seven months in detention in the US. "On the plane they didn't give us water, we were tied hands and feet, they wouldn't let us go to the bathroom," he said.

"It was very hot, some people fainted," he added.

Luis Antonio Rodrigues Santos, a 21-year-old freelancer, said: "Things have already changed [with Trump], immigrants are treated as criminals."

There are an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the US, according to the Department of Homeland Security statistics. The US also expelled 265 migrants to Guatemala on Friday last week.

Agence France-Presse