Trump intends to take Gaza under US control and resettle all Palestinians elsewhere

Trump proposes to hand over Gaza to the United States and evict the Palestinians from there. The US President made this statement together with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Earlier, he said that Gazans have "no alternative" but to leave their homes, reports NBC News.

Photo: Mohamed Zarandah | Dreamstime.com

President Donald Trump, speaking at a White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 4, said the United States would take control of the war-torn Gaza Strip, but said Palestinians had no choice but to leave their homes.

"We're going to take control of it," Trump said of Gaza. "We're going to take over this place, we're going to develop it, we're going to create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it's going to be something that the entire Middle East can be proud of," he said, adding that the United States would bring "great stability to the Middle East."

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Asked who would live there, Trump said: "I envision people from all over the world living there. It would be an incredible international place. I think the potential of Gaza is incredible." He said it could become "the Riviera of the Middle East."

"Palestinians will live there. Many will settle there," he added.

The President did not answer questions about the legality of the de facto seizure of sovereign territory.

Netanyahu said one of his goals is to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel, and that "Trump sees a different future for the territory."

"We are discussing this," Netanyahu said of Trump's Gaza proposal. "I think it is a history-changing issue and something that should be taken seriously."

During Netanyahu’s visit, Trump repeatedly called Gaza a “place of destruction” and said the Palestinians living there should be relocated, saying they would be “thrilled” to live elsewhere and were only staying because they had “no alternative.”

"This is all chaos," Trump said of Gaza, which has been devastated by the war between Israel and Hamas.

"I don't think people should go back to Gaza, which has brought them nothing but misery. They lived like in hell. Gaza is not a place to live. The only reason they want to go back, and I firmly believe this, is because there is no alternative. Where should they go? If they had an alternative, they would prefer not to go back to Gaza, but to live in a beautiful, safe place," he said.

Trump has proposed resettling some 1,8 million Palestinians to 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, referring to Egypt and Jordan. "I say they will, but I think other countries will agree, too."

Asked whether this meant forced displacement of people, the US president replied: “I don’t think so.”

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri criticized Trump's statement: "We see this as a recipe for chaos and tension in the region."

“Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to be carried out, and we must not evict people from their land, but stop the occupation and aggression against our people,” he stressed.

The meeting with Netanyahu was Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader during his second term.

The US President, when speaking to reporters on February 2, announced the discussion of this issue at the White House as a “very important meeting.”

In inviting Netanyahu to Washington last week, Trump wrote: “I look forward to discussing our efforts to confront common enemies and how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors.”

Netanyahu said on February 2 that the upcoming meeting would discuss "critical issues - the destruction of Hamas, the return of all our hostages and confronting the Iranian axis in all its components, an axis that threatens the security of Israel, the Middle East and the entire world."

Trump's transition team helped the Biden administration broker a cease-fire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas. The next phase of that agreement was expected to be among the topics of discussion on Feb. 4.

The conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel that killed 1200 people and took 251 hostages. Israel responded with air and ground strikes on Gaza, killing more than 47 people, most of them civilians, according to local authorities. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee their homes.

The scale of Israel's counteroffensive drew international condemnation, but Netanyahu defended his actions.

"The decisions we made during the war, coupled with the heroism of the IDF soldiers, have already changed the face of the Middle East. They have changed it beyond recognition. I think that by working together with President Trump, we can change it even more for the better," Netanyahu concluded.

Before the meeting, Trump said he wanted Jordan and Egypt to accept more Palestinian refugees as part of efforts to "clean up" Gaza.

Speaking to reporters on February 4 ahead of the bilateral meeting, the 47th US president’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, explained that Trump meant “making this territory habitable.” He called the five-year plan for rebuilding Gaza in a future phase of the ceasefire agreement unrealistic and ridiculous.

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said recovery would likely take about 15 years.

Witkoff stated: "There are 30 unexploded ordnances in Gaza. There are buildings that could collapse at any moment, there is no infrastructure at all: no water, no electricity, no gas, nothing. God only knows what diseases could spread there."

Netanyahu and Trump were close allies during Trump's first term, but their relationship deteriorated after Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden on his 2020 election victory while Trump continued to dispute the results.

Just days after the Oct. 7 attack, Trump told a campaign rally that Netanyahu “failed us” when he was the 45th president. That drew criticism from his Republican rivals, and soon after, Trump posted “#IStandWithIsrael” and “#IStandWithBibi” on social media, using Netanyahu’s nickname.

Their relationship appeared to improve in July, when Netanyahu met with Trump at his Florida residence following audiences with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as the assassination attempt on Trump.

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As Netanyahu said on February 2, “the fact that this will be Trump’s first meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration is of great importance for the State of Israel” and “testifies to the strength of the alliance between Israel and the United States.”

Asked what his relationship with Netanyahu is like now after all the ups and downs, Trump replied: “Mostly ups.”

Netanyahu's visit is his 14th to the White House. The director of Blair House, the historic official residence for foreign guests of the White House, noted that it is significantly more than any other foreign leader has visited since the residence was established in the XNUMXth century.

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