US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, the 4th of February, after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US would take over the war-torn Gaza Strip and develop it economically after moving Palestinians elsewhere, breaking decades of US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reports Reuters.
The announcement followed Trump’s earlier surprise proposal to permanently relocate more than two million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to neighbouring countries, calling the enclave a “demolition site”.
“The United States will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do things to it,” Trump told reporters. “We will own it and we will be responsible for clearing the area of all dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons”.
“We will develop it, we will create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it will be something that the whole Middle East can be proud of,” Trump said. “I see long-term ownership, and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East.”
Asked who would live there, Trump said it could become home to “people from all over the world”.
Trump stressed that the strip, where the Israeli military offensive in response to the 7th of October 2023 Hamas cross-border attack has levelled large parts of the area, could become the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
Trump did not directly answer the question of how and with what powers the US can take over and occupy Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reluctant to discuss the proposal in depth, although he praised the idea as “something that can change history”.
The Israeli leader, whose military has been engaged in fierce battles with Hamas militants in Gaza for more than a year, said Trump was “thinking outside the box with fresh ideas” and “showing a willingness to puncture traditional thinking”.
Netanyahu was probably relieved that Trump, who developed close ties with the Israeli leader during his first term in the White House, did not publicly pressure him to say that the ceasefire in Gaza must be maintained. The far-right members of his government want the fighting in Gaza to continue or threaten to topple his government.
Some experts point out that Trump sometimes takes extreme positions in order to prepare the ground for future negotiations, as he did in his first term when he made bold foreign policy statements but did not always follow through.
A UN damage assessment released in January indicated that clearing the more than 50 million tonnes of rubble left in Gaza after the Israeli bombardment could take 21 years and cost up to 1.2 billion US dollars.
In a statement on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia rejected any attempt to evict Palestinians from their land, the Saudi foreign ministry said. The statement said Saudi Arabia would not establish ties with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state, contradicting US President Donald Trump’s assertion that Riyadh does not demand the creation of a Palestinian state.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has confirmed the kingdom’s position “in a clear and unequivocal manner”, the statement said, adding that its position is “non-negotiable” and it does not intend to compromise.
Sami Abu Zuhri, an official with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, on Wednesday condemned Trump’s remarks as “ridiculous” and “absurd”, warning that they could destabilise the Middle East.
His Gaza proposal follows a hectic first two weeks in office, during which Trump has talked about taking Greenland, warned of a possible Panama Canal seizure and declared that Canada should become the 51st US state.
Some critics have said that Trump’s expansionist rhetoric evokes old-style imperialism, suggesting that it could embolden Russia in its war in Ukraine and give China a justification to invade Taiwan.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed to support Trump’s plan to take over the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night.
“Gaza must be free of Hamas. As @POTUS announced today, the US is ready to take the lead and make Gaza beautiful again,” Rubio said on X. “Our goal is to bring lasting peace to the region for all people.”