Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Monday rejected a report on Israel’s Channel 12 News which said that US President Donald Trump was in talks with his country about the possibility of taking in as many as 100,000 Gazan civilians.
“I haven’t heard something so fake in quite some time—and there’s been a lot of fake news lately! It is absolutely not true,” Rama wrote in a post on X.
“Full respect and solidarity for the people of Gaza, who have been dehumanized by the savage Hamas regime and have endured a hellish war following the medieval horrors of October 7. But let me be clear: Albania has not been asked by anyone, nor can we even consider to take on any such responsibility,” he added.
Rama stated, “We are proud of our strong friendships with Israel, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and, of course, the Palestinian people, whose state Albania recognized a very long time ago.”
“But Albania is not in the Middle East itself, and from the heart of Europe, we cannot do more than any other European country in such a matter. Yet, we wish and pray that the Palestinian people are given the chance to live in their own state, as free people under democratic rule, and that Hamas will never again be able to harm Israel—or, first and foremost, the Palestinians themselves,” he concluded.
Channel 12 News’ chief political analyst Amit Segal, who reported that the Trump administration is in talks with Rama’s government about taking in the Gazans, said that Israel believes Trump’s call for Jordan and Egypt to take in Gazans is unrealistic and that, as such as, Washington is looking to other countries, such as Albania.
The report followed Trump’s comments in a conversation with reporters on Saturday, in which he expressed his desire for countries like Jordan and Egypt to accept more Palestinian Arabs who have fled the fighting in Gaza, suggesting a potential mass relocation to essentially "clean out" the conflict-ridden area and start anew.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump revealed he had discussed this idea with King Abdullah II of Jordan and said he would also bring it up with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
“I’d like him to take people. I’d like Egypt to take people,” said Trump. “You’re talking about, probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know it’s, over.’”
The President added he considered the potential relocation of Palestinian Arabs as something that “could be temporary or long term,” noting the historical context of conflicts in the region over centuries.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday firmly rejected Trump’s idea, reiterating its "continued support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land."
The Ministry emphasized that it "rejected any infringement on those inalienable rights, whether by settlement or annexation of land, or by the depopulation of that land of its people through displacement, encouraged transfer or the uprooting of Palestinians from their land, whether temporarily or long-term."
The Hamas terrorist organization swiftly rejected Trump’s proposal. Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, said that Gaza residents faced the risk of death as long as they do not leave their homeland, which they would never abandon for any reason.
The office of Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas also expressed its strong opposition to any plan aiming to deport Palestinian Arabs from the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, Abbas’ office said, "This constitutes crossing the red lines we have repeatedly warned about," and stressed that "the Palestinian people will not abandon their land and holy places" and "we will not allow the disasters (Nakba) that befell our people in 1948 and 1967 to recur; our people will not leave (their land)."