A comment from an official in US President Donald Trump’s transition team has ignited an uproar in Indonesia by suggesting the relocation of some of the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza to the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, a plan Indonesian officials have strongly denied and denounced.
Advertisement
NBC News published a report on Sunday quoting an unnamed official on Trump’s team saying that discussions were under way in the newly inaugurated administration on how to rebuild Gaza following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
According to the official, Indonesia was mentioned as a potential destination for the relocation of some of the 2 million Palestinians.
The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday published a statement on X refuting any such proposal, saying it had “never received any information from anyone, nor any plans regarding the relocation of some of Gaza’s 2 million inhabitants to Indonesia as part of post-conflict reconstruction efforts”.
“Indonesia’s stance remains unequivocal: any attempts to displace or remove Gaza’s residents is entirely unacceptable,” the statement read.
Advertisement
“Such efforts to depopulate Gaza would only serve to perpetuate the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and align with broader strategies aimed at expelling Palestinians from Gaza.”