‘The only plan is the Trump plan’: Benjamin Netanyahu hails US President’s ‘bold vision’ for Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has commended US President Donald Trump’s ‘bold vision’ for the future of the Gaza Strip.
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Benjamin Netanyahu has deemed Donald Trump’s widely condemned proposal to take control of Gaza and relocate its more than two million residents as a “bold vision” that Israel “will work to ensure … becomes a reality”.
At a joint address in Jerusalem on Sunday local time, the Israeli Prime Minister and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended Mr Trump’s plan to redevelop the decimated Gaza Strip into the “Riveria of the Middle East”.
“I envision world people living there. The world’s people. I think you’ll make that into an international, unbelievable place. I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable. And I think the entire world will be there,” Mr Trump declared, during Mr Netanyahu’s visit to Washington earlier this month.
“Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there. But they tried the other, and they’ve tried it for decades and decades. It didn’t work, it will never work.”
Leaders and experts around the world were swift to point out that what the US President is advocating for amounts to ethnic cleansing – a criticism derided by both Mr Netanyahu and Mr Rubio.
“We discussed Trump’s bold vision for Gaza’s future for Gaza’s future and will work to ensure that vision becomes a reality,” Mr Netanyahu told reporters.
“We have a common strategy, and we can’t always share the details of this strategy with the public.”
Mr Trump’s proposal for Gaza “may have shocked and surprised many”, Mr Rubio acknowledged.
“The President’s also been very bold about his view of what the future for Gaza should be, not the same tired ideas of the past, but something that’s bold and something that, frankly, took courage and vision,” he continued.
“What cannot continue is the same cycle where we repeat over and over again and wind up in the exact same place.
“Hamas cannot continue as military or a government force … they must be eliminated … it must be eradicated.”
The scheme Mr Trump outlined earlier this month lacked details, but he said it would entail moving Palestinians – who had “lived a miserable existence” in Gaza – to Jordan or Egypt.
Washington, Israel’s top ally and weapons supplier, has said it is open to alternative proposals from Arab governments, but Mr Rubio said that for now, “the only plan is the Trump plan”.
The international community, however, including Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, remains largely in favour of a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Sunday the establishment of a Palestinian state was “the only guarantee” of lasting Middle East peace.
Mr Rubio and Mr Netanyahu presented a united front not just on Mr Trump’s plan, but against their common enemies, threatening to “open the gates of hell” on Hamas and “finish the job” against Iran.
“Hamas cannot continue as a military or a government force … they must be eliminated,” Mr Rubio said of the Palestinian militant group that fought Israel for more than 15 months in Gaza until a fragile ceasefire took effect on January 19.
Mr Netanyahu added that “the gates of hell will be opened” if all Israeli hostages still held in Gaza are not freed. The remark echoed one made by Mr Trump himself ahead of the latest hostage swap on Saturday, when the President vowed “all hell” would break loose and he would call for the ceasefire’s cancellation if they weren’t released.
Since the truce began last month, 19 Israeli hostages have been freed in exchange for more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners. Out of the 251 people seized in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war, 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.
Mr Rubio condemned Hamas’s hostage-taking and called for the immediate release of all remaining captives, living and dead, particularly five Israeli-American dual nationals.
“The fact that these terrorists continue to hold hostages and even dead bodies reflects their sick depravity,” the Secretary of State said.
“I call on our partners to help impress upon Hamas’s leaders that they are playing with fire.”
Negotiations on a second phase of the truce, aimed at securing a more lasting end to the war, could begin this week in Doha, a Hamas official and another source familiar with the talks have said.
Mr Netanyahu’s office said he would convene a meeting of his security cabinet on Monday to discuss phase two.
Separately, it said he was also dispatching negotiators to Cairo Monday to discuss the “continued implementation” of phase one.
The team would “receive further directives for negotiations on Phase II” after Monday’s meeting, the office said.
Originally published as ‘The only plan is the Trump plan’: Benjamin Netanyahu hails US President’s ‘bold vision’ for Gaza
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