By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed a U.S. takeover of Gaza where Israel’s military assault in the last 16 months has killed tens of thousands, after he earlier suggested that Palestinians in the enclave should be permanently displaced.
Trump’s earlier comments that Palestinians should move to Egypt and Jordan were rejected publicly by Palestinian leaders and leaders of the Arab world while being condemned by human rights advocates as amounting to a proposal of ethnic cleansing.
Trump did not offer much detail on his proposal. Here are some remarks that he made and questions that he answered during a press conference on Tuesday at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
WHAT DID TRUMP SAY?
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. 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, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” Trump said in his opening remarks at the press conference.
WHO DID HE SAY WILL TAKE PALESTINIANS FROM GAZA?
Trump said Washington will ask other neighboring countries to take in Palestinians displaced from Gaza. Since Jan. 25, he has repeatedly asked Egypt and Jordan to do so. They and other Arab states have rejected his proposal.
“Instead, we should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, and there are many of them that want to do this and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza, ending the death and destruction and frankly, bad luck. This could be paid for by neighboring countries of great wealth,” Trump said on Tuesday.
Gaza’s population before the war was 2.3 million.
WILL THE U.S. SEND TROOPS FOR TRUMP’S PLAN?
“We’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that. We’re going to take over that piece. We’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it’ll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of,” Trump said when was asked if Washington would send U.S. troops to Gaza under his proposal.
DOES TRUMP SUPPORT A TWO-STATE SOLUTION?
The United States has for decades backed a two-state solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians that would create a state for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza alongside Israel. Trump was asked if under him Washington no longer supported that.
“It doesn’t mean anything about a two state or one state or any other state, it means that .. we want to give people a chance at life … because the Gaza Strip has been a hell hole for people living there,” Trump said without directly answering the question.
WHO WILL LIVE IN GAZA UNDER TRUMP’S PLAN?
“I envision world people living there, the world’s people,” Trump said when asked who did he envision living in Gaza.
“Palestinians also, Palestinians will live there, many people will live there,” he added without elaborating further.
CONTEXT
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.
The assault has also internally displaced nearly Gaza’s entire population and caused a hunger crisis. The fighting has currently paused amid a fragile ceasefire.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Scott Malone and Stephen Coates)
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