Posted on 02/11/25
| News Source: Newsweek
Washington, D.C. - Feb. 11, 2025 - Jordan's King Abdullah II told President Donald Trump on Tuesday morning that his country would immediately admit 2,000 Palestinian children from the Gaza Strip with cancer and other medical issues.
"I think one of the things we can do right away is take 2,000 children that are either cancer children or are in very ill state to Jordan as quickly as possible and then wait for, I think, the Egyptians to present their plan on how we can with the president to work on other challenges," he said.
This is Trump's second meeting with an official in just a week to discuss the Israel-Hamas war. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House last week.
The meetings carry significant geopolitical weight as Trump and Netanyahu discussed the future of a tenuous ceasefire in Gaza, potential normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and strategies to counter Iran's nuclear ambitions. Netanyahu is under pressure from hard-right coalition members to resume hostilities, while Trump, who has taken credit for brokering the ceasefire, aims to see it hold.
Gaza has been decimated, and tens of thousands of people—including the elderly, women and children—have been killed since Israel launched a counteroffensive against Hamas in response to the militant group's attack on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 Israelis died and over 200 hostages were taken.
Abdullah left the White House after about two hours and was headed to Capitol Hill to meet with a bipartisan group of lawmakers. He posted on X that during his meeting with Trump, "I reiterated Jordan's steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank."
"This is the unified Arab position. Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all," Abdullah wrote.
A reporter asked Trump why Jordan should "take in the Palestinian people" when King Abdullah II "has made clear he doesn't want to."
During the press conference last week with Netanyahu, Trump said he believes Egypt and Jordan will agree to take in Palestinians, a suggestion both countries dismissed last week while warning that moving Palestinians out of Gaza would undermine America's longtime push for a two-state solution.
"I think I could make a deal with Jordan. I think I could make a deal with Egypt," Trump told Fox News's Bret Baier. "We give them billions and billions of dollars a year."