Trump says US will ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip and ‘level’ it
Trump once again says Gaza is a “demolition site” that is “very dangerous and very precarious”.
He says the Palestinians in Gaza should be moved to a “beautiful area with homes and safety …. so that they can live out their lives in peace and harmony”.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump says.
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.
Key events
‘Recipe for chaos’:” Hamas responds to Trump’s shocking Gaza plan
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri condemned Trump’s calls for Gazans to leave as “expulsion from their land”, Reuters news agency reports.
“We consider them a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass,” he said.
Trump offered no specifics on how a resettlement process could be implemented but his proposal echoed the wishes of Israel’s far right and contradicted former president Joe Biden’s commitment against mass displacement of Palestinians.
The Saudi government, in a statement, has also stressed its rejection of any attempt to displace Palestinians from their land and said it would not establish relations with Israel without establishment of a Palestinian state.
Some early reactions to Trump’s audacious plan to take ‘ownership’ of Gaza is coming in… No doubt, the start of many reactions to come today.
“Wait what? The U.S. is going to occupy Gaza? We were promised no more endless wars. By my count we are occupying Greenland, Canada, Panama Canal, and now..Gaza?” wrote Californian congressman, Eric Swalwell, in a post on X.
“Our homeland is our homeland,” says Palestinian envoy to UN
Before US president Trump suggested that Gaza could be transformed into the ‘Riviera’ of the Middle East, the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations said that world leaders and people should respect Palestinians’ desire to remain in Gaza.
“Our homeland is our homeland, if part of it is destroyed, the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian people selected the choice to return to it,” said Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour. “And I think that leaders and people should respect the wishes of the Palestinian people.”
Mansour did not name Trump but appeared to reject the US president’s proposal.
“Our country and our home is” the Gaza Strip, “it’s part of Palestine,” he said. “We have no home. For those who want to send them to a happy, nice place, let them go back to their original homes inside Israel, there are nice places there, and they will be happy to return to these places.”
Protests outside the White House
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have gathered outside the White House and appear to be rejecting a proposal to ‘take over Gaza’ that was put forward by US president Donald Trump in an extraordinary press conference earlier today.
The New York Times writes that people in the crowds people were chanting:
“Donald Trump belongs in jail!” and “Palestine is not for sale!”
Saudi Arabia stresses rejection of attempts to displace Palestinians
Reaction to the Trump press conference and the US president’s startling assertion that the US should control Gaza and Palestinians should live elsewhere is starting to come in from the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia has made a statement saying it rejects attempts to displace Palestinians and would not establish relations with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
Key takeaways from Trump-Netanyahu press conference
The US president, Donald Trump, and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed reporters following talks at the White House. Here are the main takeaways from the joint press conference:
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In a shock announcement, Trump said the US will “take over” and “own” the Gaza Strip. “We will own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” he said, adding that the US will “level” destroyed buildings in the Palestinian territory and “create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
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Trump said he envisioned a “long-term” US ownership of Gaza after Palestinians are moved elsewhere. “This is not a decision made lightly,” he said, adding that “everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land.” He went on to say that Gaza could become “the Riviera of the Middle East” where “the world’s people” could live there, including Palestinians.
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Trump did not rule out sending US troops to secure Gaza. “As far as Gaza is concerned, we’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that,” he said. On Trump’s idea of taking over Gaza, Netanyahu said the US president “sees a different future for Gaza”, adding: “I think it’s something that could change history.”
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Trump said he would probably announce a position on Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank in the next month. “We haven’t been taking the position on it yet,” he said. Trump added that he planned to visit the Gaza Strip, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
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Netanyahu described Trump as “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House”. The Israeli leader said “we have to finish the job in Gaza”, and said “Israel will end the war by winning the war.”
Trump says he plans to visit Israel, the Gaza Strip and Saudi Arabia.
He says the Middle East is an “incredible place, so vibrant”, but that “a lot of bad leadership has taken place … including on the American side.”
Trump says he will announce position on Israeli sovereignty over West Bank in the next weeks
Trump says he has not taken a position about Israel sovereignty over the West Bank and would be making an announcement on the issue in the coming weeks.
“We haven’t taken a position on it yet, but we will be,” he says.
We’ll be making an announcement probably on that very specific topic over the next four weeks.
Trump says he sees US holding ‘long-term ownership’ of Gaza
Trump is asked what authority would allow the US to “take over” the Gaza Strip.
The US president says he sees a “long-term ownership position” which he says will bring “great stability” to the entire Middle East region.
Trump claims that everyone he has spoken to “loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land”.
This is an idea that gotten tremendous … praise from the highest level of leadership.
Trump says US troops will be deployed to Gaza ‘if it’s necessary’
Asked whether US troops will be deployed to Gaza, Trump says:
We’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that. We’re going to take over that place.
Trump says he can’t say whether the Gaza ceasefire will hold, adding that “we weren’t helped very much by the Biden administration”.
“We hope it holds,” he adds.
Netanyahu says Israel has to ‘finish the job in Gaza’
Netanyahu asks Trump to help secure Israel’s future. “We have to finish the job in Gaza,” he says.
He says that Israel has three goals: to destroy Hamas, secure the release of hostages, and “ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”
Netanyahu says he believes that Trump and his “willingness to puncture conventional thinking” will help Israel achieve these goals.
Israel will end the war by winning the war. Israel’s victory will be America’s victory. We will not only win the war working together, we will win the peace with your leadership, Mr President, and our partnership.
Netanyahu says Trump is the ‘greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House’
Netanyahu begins his remarks by thanking Donald Trump for inviting him to be the first foreign leader to visit the White House in his second term.
“You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” he says.
In your first term, you recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. You move the American embassy there. You recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Trump says he is “hopeful” that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas can be the beginning of a larger and more enduring peace that will end the bloodshed and killing “once and for all”.
He notes that he signed an executive order on Tuesday withdrawing the US from the UN’s human right council – a body that he described as “antisemitic” – and ending all support for the UN’s Palestinian refugees agency (Unrwa).
Trump says America and Israel will “restore calm and stability” to the region and “expand prosperity, opportunity and hope to our nations and for all people the Middle East.”
Trump says US will ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip and ‘level’ it
Trump once again says Gaza is a “demolition site” that is “very dangerous and very precarious”.
He says the Palestinians in Gaza should be moved to a “beautiful area with homes and safety …. so that they can live out their lives in peace and harmony”.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump says.
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 calls the Gaza Strip a “symbol of death and destruction” for many decades and an “unlucky” place.
He says Gaza should not “go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that … lived a miserable existence there.”
Instead, he says Palestinians should go to other countries, without naming any specific countries.
“It could be sites or it could be one large site” where people would live “in comfort and peace”, he said.
“They’re not going to be shot at and killed,” Trump says, claiming that the “only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is that they have no alternative”.
Trump claims the Hamas attacks on 7 October “would have never happened” if he had been the US president at the time.
He says that he and Netanyahu have been discussing “how we can work together to ensure Hamas is eliminated and ultimately restore peace to a very troubled region.”
Trump says US-Israel bond is ‘unbreakable’ after ‘fantastic’ talks with Netanyahu
Donald Trump says he is “delighted” to welcome Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, noting that Netanyahu is the first foreign head of state to visit since Trump’s inauguration.
Trump described talks with Netanyahu as “fantastic” and described the relationship between the US and Israel as “great”.
“Bibi, I want to say it’s an honour to have you with us,” he said.
Over the past four years, the US and the Israeli alliance has been tested more than any time in history. But the bonds of friendship and affection between the American and Israeli people have endured for generations, and they are absolutely unbreakable.
