President Donald Trump outlined an extraordinary new plan for the Middle East on Tuesday, with the United States taking control of the war-torn Gaza strip while its Palestinian population is moved to neighboring countries.
It is the latest evolution in his plan for rebuilding a territory devastated by Israeli bombardment.
His words will sow fear in the Palestinian population but Trump insisted it was time for a new way of thinking.
‘The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,’ he said at a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
‘We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site … level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings.’
Trump, a property developer who sees the world in terms of deals, has long talked up Gaza’s coastal location and pleasant climate as a perfect holiday vacation.
In his vision, U.S. reconstruction would create thousands of jobs and spare Palestinians the pain and expense of rebuilding once again.
When a reporter asked if that might involve military force, Trump answered: ‘If necessary.
President Donald Trump outlined an extraordinary new plan for the Middle East on Tuesday, with the United States taking control of the wartorn Gaza strip while its Palestinian population is moved to neighboring countries.
He made his explosive comments during a press conference alongside Benjamin Netanyahu
And when asked who would live there, he answered: ‘I envision world people living there. The world’s people.
‘I think you’ll make that into an international, unbelievable place.’
Yet the proposal to move out Gaza Palestinian population will be seen as a call for ‘ethnic cleansing’ by opponents.
Netanyahu could not help but beam as the president outlined his latest proposal. And he praised Trump for his radical thinking, such as recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel during his first term.
‘You see things others refuse to see,’ he said. ‘You say things others refuse to say.
‘And after the jaws drop people scratch their heads and they say, you know, he’s right.’
More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched strikes in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced.
‘I don’t think people should be going back,’ said Trump earlier as he welcomed Netanyahu to the Oval Office. “You can’t live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location.
‘I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy.’
The comments will terrify Palestinians who have long feared that Israel was seeking to take their land.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to meet with Donald Trump at the White House since he was sworn in for a second term
American officials say it will take longer than the three to five years envisaged in existing peace talks to rebuild Gaza, which has been flattened by Israeli strikes
Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025
They have lived under an economic blockade and more than a year of military bombardment, leaving the territory resembling a ‘demolition site,’ as Trump put it.
Netanyahu is visiting to plan for the next stage of talks with Hamas, negotiations which plan for three to five years of reconstruction.
American officials have already made clear that they see that timeline as unviable.
Against that backdrop, Trump upended the Middle East 10 days by floating the idea of moving the territory’s population to Egypt and Jordan, in answer to DailyMail.com question.
Both countries have rejected the idea.
But the former property developer, who sees the world in terms of deals, insisted that other nations would step up.
‘You look over the decades, it’s all death in Gaza,’ he said.
‘This has been happening for years. It’s all death.
‘If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza.’
Earlier Trump’s national security adviser told reporters that Trump viewed the issue as a humanitarian one.
Trump welcomes Netanyahu to Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon
‘You have these people that are sitting with literally thousands of unexploded ordinance and piles of rubble,’ said Mike Waltz.
‘At some point, we have to look realistically, how do you rebuild Gaza? What does that look like? What is the timeline?
‘A lot of people were looking at very unrealistic timelines. We’re talking 10 to 15 years.’
It was all smiles between Trump and Netanyahu on Tuesday, but there has been tension in their relationship.
Trump complained during his first term that the Israeli leader let him down just before the US killed a top Iranian general in 2020, dropping out of the operation at the 11th hour.
And he was furious that Netanyahu congratulated President Joe Biden on winning the 2020 election.
But Netanyahu, who has lost support at home and who has been indicted at the International Criminal Court, badly needs Trump now to help shore up his position.
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