‘Trump is a madman’: Palestinian in Gaza mocks US president’s takeover plan

Palestinians have widely rejected President Trump’s plan, and one 72-year-old says leaving Gaza would be ‘like death’.

Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Palestine – Leaning on a wooden cane, 72-year-old Fathi Abu al-Saeed navigates the rubble-strewn streets of Khan Younis’s al-Katiba neighbourhood — a daily ritual since he returned from displacement in the coastal region of al-Mawasi following the January 19 Gaza ceasefire. Carefully stepping over debris left by 15 months of relentless Israeli bombardment, he raises his cane, pointing at a demolished house.

“You see that pile of useless rubble?” he says. “That’s more precious than the United States and everything in it.”

His audience — a group of children, including some of his 50 children and grandchildren — listens intently, undeterred by forecasts of heavy rain and strong winds. Others join them — children from displaced families who have also returned, not to intact homes, but to the ruins of what once was. With nowhere else to go, they rebuild their lives among the wreckage.

Every morning, Abu al-Saeed exchanges words of resilience with neighbours. But on this day, US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks about Gaza — his fantasy of clearing out its Palestinian population to build a “Riviera in the Middle East” — offer fresh material for his sarcasm and defiance.

“Trump talks as if he’s a king handing out land,” Abu al-Saeed scoffs. “Maybe he should relocate his Israeli friends somewhere outside of Palestine and leave Gaza alone.”