Most Gaza residents are the descendants of Palestinian refugees driven to the enclave in a 1948 war. They harbor a deep fear of being uprooted again, and President Trump's remarks struck a raw nerve.

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday the government supported a two-state solution in the Middle East, following U.S. President Donald Trump's shock announcement of plans to take over the Gaza Strip.

Donald Trump, in his now familiar style of presidential pronouncements that he perceives will solve the world’s problems at a stroke, has declared that the solution to the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza is to ‘clear out’ the entire Palestinian population of almost three million and relocate them to adjacent countries – specifying Jordan and Egypt as his chosen states to receive this influx.