(April 8, 2025 / JNS) U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday renewed his call to transfer to safer locales those Palestinians who wish to leave the Gaza Strip

“For years and years, all I hear about is killing and Hamas and problems,” he said during a press gathering in the Oval Office on Monday together with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“And if you take the people, the Palestinians, and move them around to different countries, and you have plenty of countries that will do that … you really have a freedom zone … a zone where people aren’t going to be killed every day,” he added.

The U.S. president first announced his Gaza relocation plan during a press conference with Netanyahu in February.

Netanyahu, who has endorsed the plan, said on Monday that “what the president is talking about is: give people a choice. Gazans were closed in. Every other place, including arenas of battle, whether it’s Ukraine or Syria, or any other place, people could leave. What is wrong with giving people a choice? … Enabling the people of Gaza to really make a choice to go wherever they want?”

He noted that Gaza’s reconstruction would take years.

A senior Israeli diplomatic source told JNS on April 4 that polls showed that many Palestinians in Gaza want to leave.

“Even before Israel restarted military action, 60% said they wanted to leave—40% of those don’t want to come back, and another 20% want to go but with the option to return. That’s more than 1 million people who say they want to leave,” said the source.

Israelis support the president’s proposal, according to polls.

The sticking point has appeared to be finding partner countries willing to take Gazans in. However, Netanyahu said on Monday that “countries are responding to [Trump’s] vision. We’re working on it. I hope we’ll have good news for you.”