Far-fetched as Mr. Trump’s vision for Gaza may be — the Arab world has roundly rejected it and any forcible removal of a population violates international law — it abruptly shifted attention away from the future of the cease-fire deal, whose initial, six-week phase is due to end in early March.

President Donald Trump reasserted his vision for a “spectacular” development in the Gaza Strip, led by the US and without Palestinians, in a social media post early Thursday.

In interviews, some Palestinians said they would rather leave Gaza, given the inescapable devastation — but the decision was theirs, not Trump’s, to make.