Jordan’s King Abdullah said on Wednesday he rejected any attempts to annex land and displace Palestinians.

He spoke after U.S. President Trump said on Tuesday the United States would take over Gaza after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and develop it economically, an idea that elicited widespread international condemnation.

“His Majesty King Abdullah II stresses the need to put a stop to (Israeli) settlement expansion, expressing rejection of any attempts to annex land and displace the Palestinians,” the Jordanian royal court said in a post on X.

While receiving Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah affirmed full Jordanian support for the Palestinians.

The Jordanian monarch is scheduled to meet with Trump on Feb. 11 at the White House.

Trump said he would back an effort to permanently resettle Palestinians from Gaza, after 15 months of devastating war there between its ruling Hamas group and Israel, to places where they can live without fear of violence.

He said he and his team had been discussing this possibility for Gaza, where a ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19, with Jordan, Egypt and other regional countries.

In a press conference, Trump said King Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would come around to the idea despite their rejections. Trump said they would “open their hearts and will give us the kind of land that we need to get this done and people can live in harmony and in peace.”

Late in January, Trump had said that Jordan and Egypt should take more Palestinians from Gaza, where Israel’s war against Hamas has caused a humanitarian crisis.

Jordan firmly rejected Trump’s initial suggestion, with millions of Palestinians already living there.

Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations reject the idea of Palestinians in Gaza being moved to their countries. Gaza is land that Palestinians would want as part of a future independent state.

(Reuters)