King Abdullah II of Jordan pledged to take in 2,000 sick Palestinian children from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday amid pressure by President Trump for his country to take in Palestinians from the enclave.
Abdullah met with Trump at the White House where the two leaders discussed controversial proposals from Trump to take in large swaths of the Palestinian population in Gaza while continuing to double down on the U.S. taking over the coastal strip and sending mixed signals on whether residents could ever return.
Trump, meanwhile, appeared to also back pedal a suggestion he floated the day before about withholding aid to Jordan and Egypt if they didn’t take up his proposal for relocating Palestinians in their countries upon hearing Abdullah’s offer to take in sick children.
“I think the president is very happy that we do this thing with 2,000 children as quickly as possible,” Abdullah said. “I believe that the president is looking forward to getting a group of us Arabs here to discuss the overall plan.”
Abdullah outlined that his country will focus on children with cancer or who are sick, which Trump praised as a “beautiful gesture.”
Sitting in the Oval Office the day before during an executive order signing, Trump was asked if he would withhold aid from Jordan and Egypt “if they don’t take in the Palestinians.”
“Yeah, maybe. Sure, why not?” Trump responded. “If they don’t agree, I would conceivably withhold aid. Yeah,” Trump responded.
But on Tuesday, when asked that question again sitting next to the leaders of one of those countries, Trump softened his stance.
“I do think we’re above that,” Trump said.
“We contribute a lot of money to Jordan and to Egypt, by the way, a lot to both, but I don’t have to threaten that,” he added.
The U.S. and Jordan signed a memorandum in 2022 in which the U.S. committed to providing more than $1 billion annually in foreign assistance. The U.S. provided roughly $1.5 billion in foreign assistance to Egypt in fiscal 2023. Both countries are among the top receivers of U.S. foreign aid.
The president, meanwhile, continued to double down on his idea that the U.S. take over Gaza following the war and expressed confidence in the meeting that the plan will “work out” to control Gaza. But Abdullah was lukewarm about such a proposal, which has been met with opposition from much of the Arab region.
Abdullah said he would wait for the Egyptians to also present ideas.
The meeting comes as a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza appears as wrought as ever after Hamas suggested it would not release additional hostages by a Saturday deadline because it claims Israel was not holding up its end of the deal.
Trump also suggested Monday he would end the ceasefire Saturday if the U.S.-designated terrorists organization did not release every remaining hostage it has in Gaza.
