“People in Gaza see the US president’s suggestion as provocative and deeply offensive,” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reports from Rafah, southern Gaza.

“It disregards cultural, historical and emotional ties Palestinians have to their homeland. The Gaza Strip is not just a piece of land from the Palestinian perspective, it’s where they have lived, worked and built their lives despite decades of hardship.

“For them, some comments made by the US president echo colonial narratives that seek to displace Indigenous people without addressing their legitimate right to live in dignity,” he said.

For Palestinians, this is part of a longtime US policy to prioritise Israeli interests. The citizens we spoke to said they believe President Trump will try to scale up efforts of the Israeli political and military schemes, not just in Gaza but the whole region.

“People here are saying that if this step will officially take place on the ground, it will reshape the entire Palestinian territories. They prefer to die here instead of being displaced,” he said.

Such statements could bring further psychological impact on civilians who are now concentrating on finding basic items and coping mechanisms amid this devastation, Azzoum added.