NEW YORK, Feb 06 (Reuters/BBC): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told President Donald Trump on Wednesday to avoid ethnic cleansing in Gaza after the US leader proposed that Palestinians resettle elsewhere and the United States take over the war-torn enclave.
"In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse. It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing," Guterres told a previously planned meeting of a UN committee.
"We must reaffirm the two-state solution," he said.
While Guterres did not mention Trump or his Gaza proposal during his address to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters earlier that it would be a "fair assumption" to view Guterres' remarks as a response.
US President Donald Trump's proposal to resettle Gaza's population would only be temporary, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.
It follows Trump's suggestion that the US could "take over" Gaza and resettle around two million Palestinians living there - an idea that has drawn criticism from the UN, human rights groups and Arab leaders.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said Gazans "should be allowed to enjoy freedom of exit and immigration", but gave few details on how this would work.
Earlier on Wednesday Guterres spoke with Jordan's King Abdullah about the situation in the region, Dujarric said.
Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour, appointed by the Palestinian Authority, told the committee that Abdullah would deliver a coordinated message to Trump from Arab states when he visits Washington next week.
"We have no country except Palestine. Gaza is a precious part of it. We are not going to leave Gaza," Mansour said. "There is no power on earth that can remove the Palestinian people from our ancestral homeland, including Gaza."
"We want to rebuild it. We want to put it back together. And we ask all countries to help us in this endeavor," he said. "We are not looking for other homelands or other countries."
The United Nations has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognised borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war with neighbouring Arab states.
"Any durable peace will require tangible, irreversible and permanent progress toward the two-state solution, an end to the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with Gaza as an integral part," Guterres said.
"A viable, sovereign Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel is the only sustainable solution for Middle East stability," he said.
Trump has not committed to
putting troops in Gaza: WH
President Donald Trump has not committed to putting US. troops on the ground in the Gaza Strip as part of his proposal for a US takeover of the Palestinian enclave, the White House (WH) said on Wednesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump believes the United States needs to be involved in the rebuilding of Gaza "to ensure stability in the region." "That does not mean boots on the ground in Gaza," she said.
Leavitt also said Trump wants to see Palestinians who live in Gaza "temporarily relocated" in order for the enclave to be rebuilt. Trump had called on Tuesday for a permanent resettlement of Palestinians out of Gaza, drawing global condemnation.
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