United Nations officials have condemned the idea of deporting people from Gaza, noting it’s strictly prohibited under international law, after President Donald Trump announced the US will seize the Palestinian territory and resettle its war-weary population.

UN chief Antonio Guterres will warn on Wednesday against “ethnic cleansing” of about 2.3 million people in Gaza, his spokesman said.

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“The secretary-general will say that in the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse. It is vital that we stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing. And, of course, he will reaffirm the two-state solution,” Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk was definitive in his response to Trump’s statements, which have sparked outrage across the globe. “Any forcible transfer in or deportation of people from occupied territory is strictly prohibited,” Turk said.

Trump announced the plan during a news conference in Washington, DC with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hours earlier, doubling down on his previous suggestion of removing Palestinians from the war-battered enclave. Experts have said that would constitute ethnic cleansing.

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‘Riviera of the Middle East’

In the Tuesday news conference, the president said the US should “take over” Gaza and launch major redevelopment to turn the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East”. He also called for moving Gaza’s population to “other countries with humanitarian hearts”.

His announcement was met with shock and audible gasps from those in attendance. It has since been rejected by Palestinian people and leaders, Middle East powers, and the governments of Spain, France, Russia, China, and the Republic of Ireland, among others.

Neighbouring countries also repeatedly rejected the prospect of large-scale transfers of Palestinians out of Gaza, which has been levelled in a 15-month-long war between Hamas and Israel. At least 47,552 people in Gaza have been killed in the fighting.

In his statement, Turk said instead of Trump’s statements, the international emphasis should now be on reaching an agreement on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for sealing that deal, which went into effect on January 19, the day before he took office.

But Israel and Hamas have only agreed to the first 42-day phase of the deal, which remains ongoing. It has seen a pause in fighting and the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the eventual release of 33 captives held in Gaza.

The second phase would see a more complete end to the war and a release of the remaining captives, but Netanyahu has faced pressure from within his own government to resume the fighting.

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A third phase is meant to eventually see the reconstruction of Gaza, although no day-after plan has yet to emerge.

“It is crucial that we move towards the next phase of the ceasefire, to release all hostages and arbitrarily detained prisoners, end the war and reconstruct Gaza, with full respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” Turk said.

‘An international crime’

Speaking at a news conference in Denmark’s capital Copenhagen on Wednesday, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, also decried Trump’s plan as “unlawful, immoral and completely irresponsible”.

“It’s incitement to commit forced displacement, which is an international crime,” said Albanese.

International law prohibits the seizure of a sovereign territory without the consent of the controlling government.

Rights experts have said that because the UN’s top court has ruled that Israel is an illegal occupier of the Palestinian territories, Israeli authorities have no right to hand over control of Gaza to a foreign power.

Analysts have also pointed out that as an occupying force, Israel is prohibited from permanently removing Palestinians from the enclave.

Albanese warned if the US president carries on with this plan, “it will make the regional crisis even worse”. She called for world leaders to stake a stand.

“The international community is made up of 193 states and this is the time to give the US what it has been looking for: isolation,” she said.

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