Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to move Palestinians out of Gaza "very good, the first new idea in years ." "It has the potential to change everything in Gaza," Netanyahu says in an interview with Fox News before his return from Washington.

" It is not a forced eviction, nor an ethnic cleansing ," he continues. "Everyone talks about Gaza as an open-air prison, so why keep these people in prison? The citizens of Gaza will be able to return to their homes after the reconstruction, as long as they renounce terrorism ."

The return of Palestinians to Gaza had initially been ruled out by Trump. For Netanyahu, now, "the main challenge is where to send the citizens of Gaza." But it is a "new and correct approach... a very, very good, new approach."

The Israeli president denies that US special envoy Steve Witkoff "persuaded" him to enter into the ongoing hostage release deal with Hamas: "We had a very frank conversation, not just a friendly one. The reality is that I accepted this deal months ago, while Hamas rejected the deal."

Netanyahu also recalls that he appreciated the “initial support” of the Joe Biden administration at the beginning of the war. But he also emphasizes that as international pressure mounted on Biden to change his position on Israel, the White House called for a halt to the weapons with the entry into Rafah.

The prime minister also recalled that some in his cabinet wanted to end the war in Gaza given the opposition of the United States, but he opposed it: " If we become a vassal state, we will not survive ."

In the next few hours, meanwhile, the Israeli army is preparing to withdraw from its last positions in the Netzarim Corridor, in central Gaza, as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

(Unioneonline/vl)

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