US President Donald Trump said he was losing patience with the ceasefire agreement between Israel and “Hamas“ after seeing footage of the release of Israeli hostages by the Palestinian militant group over the weekend, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Trump's reaction to the footage of the three hostages, who appeared extremely emaciated when they were released on Saturday, brought new uncertainty about the fate of the agreement ahead of the release of the remaining 76 hostages and comes days after the president called for the Palestinians to be pulled out of Gaza and for the United States to take control of the enclave.
“They look like Holocaust survivors. They were in terrible condition. "They were emaciated," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. "I don't know how much longer we can take this ... at some point we're going to run out of patience." "I know we have a deal ... they're coming in little by little and they're coming in little by little ... but they're in really bad shape," Trump said of the Israeli hostages.
Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, who were taken hostage from Kibbutz Beeri during the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, as well as Or Levi, who was kidnapped the same day from the Nova music festival, were paraded on a podium by Hamas fighters. on Saturday before their release.
The three men appeared to be in worse condition than the 18 other hostages previously released. Many Palestinian prisoners released by Israel also appeared emaciated and exhausted.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that the sight of the emaciated hostages was shocking. In exchange for the three men, Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners.
Trump also told reporters that he remained committed to his proposal for the United States to buy and take ownership of Gaza after the Palestinians leave or are driven out of the enclave, a surprise statement he made on February 4 during Netanyahu's recent visit to Washington. He said other countries could participate in rebuilding parts of Gaza.
“As far as us rebuilding it, we could give it to other countries in the Middle East to build parts of it, other people could do it, under our auspices. But we are determined to own it, take it and make sure that Hamas doesn't come back,“ said Trump.
Ezzat El-Rashk, a member of Hamas's political bureau, condemned Trump's comments. The Palestinians will thwart all plans for displacement, Rashk added shortly after the US president's statement.
Egyptian tycoon Hisham Talaat Mustafa has proposed an alternative to US President Donald Trump's plan for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, which envisages the displacement of its residents and the creation of a "Middle Eastern Riviera", reported the newspaper "Al Ahram", quoted by BTA.
Unlike Trump's idea, Mustafa's plan does not envisage the displacement of Palestinians from the enclave. In an interview with the television "MBC Masr" (MBC Masr) the businessman even suggested that the American head of state's project be implemented in Egypt.
Mustafa explained that according to UN statistics, the reconstruction of Gaza will require the construction of 200,000 housing units to house between 1.1 and 1.3 million displaced Palestinians. He estimated the cost of building one square meter of housing space at around one thousand dollars, meaning that building 200,000 housing units of one hundred square meters each would cost around twenty billion dollars.
“Between forty and fifty construction companies will have to collaborate to build 200,000 units in three years in six phases,“ he pointed out. He said Egypt's success in recent years in transforming a significant number of slums by building one million housing units is a model for the reconstruction of Gaza.
Mustafa stressed the urgent need to develop the infrastructure in the Strip, including water, electricity, sewage systems and other basic services, and estimated the cost at four billion dollars. Another three billion dollars are needed to rebuild healthcare, education, sports, commerce and entertainment facilities, bringing the cost of fully rebuilding Gaza to $27 billion over three years, he said.
Hisham Talaat Mustafa is the CEO of Talaat Mustafa Group (TMG Holding), Egypt's largest real estate company. The firm oversees some of the most significant private urban gated communities.