Thousands of Egyptians protest Trump's Gaza ethnic cleansing plan

Thousands of people have demonstrated at the Rafah border crossing against a proposal touted by US President Donald Trump for Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians ethnically cleansed from besieged Gaza.

Protesters on Friday could be heard chanting "Long Live Egypt" and waving Egyptian and Palestinian flags.

"We say no to any displacement of Palestine or Gaza at the expense of Egypt, on the land of Sinai," said Sinai resident Gazy Saeed.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi on Wednesday rejected the idea that Egypt would facilitate the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and said Egyptians would take to the streets to express their disapproval.

Trump says Egypt, Jordan will comply

Trump said on Saturday that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza, which he called a "demolition site" following 15 months of Israeli genocidal war that rendered most of its 2.3 million people homeless.

On Thursday, Trump forcefully reiterated the idea, saying "We do a lot for them, and they are going to do it," in apparent reference to abundant US aid, including military assistance, to both Egypt and Jordan.

"They will do it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday when asked for his response to the Egyptian and Jordanian refusal, and whether he would consider imposing tariffs on either country to push them.

"They're going to do it. We do a lot for them, and they're going to do it."

Any suggestion that Palestinians leave Gaza — territory they hope will become part of an independent state — has been anathema to the Palestinian leadership for generations and repeatedly rejected by neighbouring Arab states since Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023.

Jordan is already home to several million Palestinians, while tens of thousands live in Egypt.

Since the start of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, both Egypt and Jordan have warned of plans to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza and the occupied West Bank across their borders.

Trump's proposal has received widespread condemnation, with critics calling it "ethnic cleansing" and a "war crime."

Many countries in the Muslim and Arab world as well as European nations such as France have firmly rejected the idea.