President Donald Trump, speaking at a White House news conference Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced that the U.S. would seek ownership of the war-torn Gaza Strip after saying Palestinians have no choice but to leave their homes there.
"We'll own it," Trump said of Gaza. "We're going to take over that piece, develop it and create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it will be something the entire Middle East can be proud of," he said, adding that a “long-term ownership position” by the U.S. would bring “great stability to the Middle East.”
Asked who would live there, Trump said, “I envision the world people living there, the world’s people. You’ll make that into an international unbelievable place. I think the potential in the Gaza strip is unbelievable,” and it could be “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
“Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there,” he added.
The president did not answer questions about the legality of essentially taking over a sovereign territory.
Netanyahu said one of his goals is to make sure Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again, and that “Trump sees a different future for that piece of land.”
“We’re talking about it,” Netanyahu said of Trump’s Gaza Strip suggestion. “I think it’s something that could change history and it worthwhile really pursuing this avenue.”
During Netanyahu's visit, Trump repeatedly called Gaza a "demolition site" and said that the Palestinians who are living there should be relocated, claiming they would be “thrilled” to live elsewhere and are only staying because they have "no alternative."
"The whole thing is a mess," Trump said of Gaza, which has been devastated by the Israel-Hamas war.
"I don't think people should be going back to Gaza. I think that Gaza has been very unlucky for them. They've lived like hell; they've lived like you're living in hell. Gaza is not a place for people to be living. The only reason they want to go back, and I believe this strongly, is they have no alternative. What's the alternative? Go where? If they had an alternative, they'd much rather not go back to Gaza and live in a beautiful alternative that's safe," he said.
Trump said the approximately 1.8 million Palestinians should be moved to a new site or sites in other Arab countries, such as Egypt or Jordan, where they can "live in peace."
"They say they’re not going to accept" them, Trump said of Egypt and Jordan. "I say they will, but I think other countries will accept also."
Trump said that Palestinians going to a new land "would be a lot better than going back to Gaza, which has had decades and decades of death."
"They'll be resettled in areas where they can live a beautiful life," he said.
Asked whether that would mean forcibly displacing people, Trump said, "I don't think so."
A spokesman for Hamas, Sami Abu Zuhri, blasted Trump’s remarks, saying, “We consider it a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region.”
“Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass, and what is required is to end the occupation and aggression against our people, not expel them from their land,” he said.
The meeting with Netanyahu was Trump's first with a foreign leader since the start of his second term.
