Egypt and Palestine Liberation Organization welcomed on Thursday US President Donald Trump’s remarks on not demanding that residents of Gaza leave the enclave.

“We appreciate the statements of the US president in which he confirmed that the residents of the Gaza Strip are not required to leave their homeland,” Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the PLO, a Palestinian umbrella group of factions that excludes Hamas, wrote on X.

Trump said on Wednesday that “nobody is expelling any Palestinians from Gaza,” in response to a question during a meeting in the White House with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.

“This position reflects an understanding of the need to prevent further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the importance of finding fair, sustainable solutions to the Palestinian issue,” the Egyptian foreign ministry said.

Trump had proposed a US takeover of Gaza, where Israel’s military assault in the last 17 months has killed tens of thousands, after earlier suggesting that Palestinians in the enclave should be permanently displaced.

The militant group carried out a cross-border raid into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering the devastating war in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier in March, Arab leaders adopted a $53 billion Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza that would avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave, in contrast to Trump’s vision of a “Middle East Riviera.”