A boy looks over a newly established tent camp for displaced Palestinians whose homes were damaged by Israeli army strikes in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on Friday, March 7, 2025. Jehad Alshrafi / AP

During a meeting on Wednesday with Ireland's leader Michel Martin, President Trump made an offhand remark that was quickly picked up in the Middle East as a major change in his stance on the war-torn Gaza Strip and its roughly 2 million Palestinian inhabitants.

"Nobody is expelling any Palestinians," Mr. Trump told reporters.

That came after he repeatedly said that under his own proposal to rebuild Gaza, all of its residents would be moved out, while the U.S. moved in to "take over" the coastal territory to turn it into a luxury real estate development. Just a month ago, Mr. Trump was clear that, in his mind, not only would Palestinians need to leave Gaza, they would not be permitted to return.

That plan was roundly and clearly rejected by Arab countries, including Egypt and Jordan, which Mr. Trump had said would take in the displaced masses.

Egypt, which has led efforts to present an alternative plan for Gaza that does not involve displacing Palestinians, welcomed the change in tone by Mr. Trump.

"Egypt expresses its appreciation for the statements made by U.S. President, Donald Trump… regarding the non-displacement of the residents of the Gaza Strip," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. "Egypt affirms that this position reflects an understanding of the importance of avoiding further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Strip and the necessity of working towards finding just and sustainable solutions to the Palestinian cause."

Hamas, the U.S. and Israeli designated terrorist organization that sparked the war in Gaza with its brutal Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, also cautiously welcomed the shift in Mr. Trump's rhetoric.

"If Trump's statements represent a retreat from the idea of Palestinian displacement, then they are welcomed," a statement from the group's spokesperson said.

Mr. Trump's remarks came Wednesday after his senior envoy Steve Witkoff met with the foreign ministers of five Arab nations in Qatar to discuss Gaza's post-war future. That future, regardless of what reconstruction plan is eventually implemented, can only start taking shape once there is an official end to the war, however.

A fragile truce between Israel and Hamas has largely kept the peace since January 19, but the two sides have not yet agreed on whether to extend the first phase of the agreement, or to move onto a second phase as originally envisioned. The dialogue in Doha, Qatar, involving delegations from the host-nation as well as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and the U.S. is aimed at pushing the process forward – and keeping the guns silent in Gaza.

The five Arab nations involved have pushed the Egyptian-crafted alternative to Mr. Trump's "Riviera of the Mideast" proposal in their talks with American officials.

The Arab plan, the rough outline of which officials shared with CBS News earlier this month, carries a price tag of $53 billion and envisions all of the enclave's residents remaining in Gaza throughout the years-long reconstruction. The Trump administration initially rejected the plan, with U.S. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes issuing a statement saying it failed to " address the reality that Gaza is currently uninhabitable and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance."

"President Trump stands by his vision to rebuild Gaza free from Hamas," Hughes said at the time, adding: "We look forward to further talks to bring peace and prosperity to the region."

It appeared on Wednesday, with Mr. Trump's remarks at the White House, that those further talks with America's regional partners may have convinced the White House that displacing the entire population of Gaza was not a tenable proposition.

"The Arab foreign ministers presented the Gaza reconstruction plan, which was approved at the Arab Summit held in Cairo on March 4, 2025," the five Arab nations that met in Doha said in a joint statement shared Wednesday. "They also agreed with the U.S. envoy to continue consultations and coordination on this plan as a basis for the reconstruction efforts in the sector."

That Egyptian plan has been adopted by the broad Muslim solidarity group of 57 countries known as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. It envisions the Gaza Strip eventually being run by the Palestinian Authority, which currently administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, not by Hamas.

That will likely prove an ongoing point of contention as the PA holds little support among Palestinians and has been dismissed as a potential future Gaza administrator by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, showing there's still much negotiation ahead if Mr. Trump is to make good on his vows to end the crisis in the heart of the Middle East.

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