President Trump said no Gazans will be forced to leave the area, as plans for the area’s rebuild are part of the peace deal struck between Israel and Hamas.

The president said in the Oval Office while meeting with Finnish President Alexander Stubb that “nobody is going to be forced to leave, no.”

“It’s just the opposite,” he said. “This is a great plan, this is a great peace plan, this is a plan that was supported by everybody. No, we’re not looking to do this at all.”

His comments are a switch-up from his words months ago that the wealthy neighboring Arab countries would be asked to take Palestinian refugees as the area gets rebuilt.

Those comments were sharply criticized in some quarters as a form of “ethnic cleansing,” the forced depopulation of an area, which is a war crime.

But his 20-point plan, which was unveiled last week, specifically says that “no one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return.”

“We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza,” the point says.

Another says Gaza “will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough.”

Mr. Trump said Thursday that the security guarantees for the area are “to be determined.”

“There’s going to be a large group of people determining what it will be,” he said. “A group of people funding it that are – very rich countries are going to be funding it.”

“People want to see this work, it’s absolutely going to work,” he said.

Earlier Thursday, he said the hostages would be released sometime early next week, Monday or Tuesday.

He said he will try to go to Egypt for a signing ceremony of the peace deal, and that he may speak before the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, when he heads to the Middle East potentially over the weekend.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.