Donald Trump ‘won’t rule out troops in Gaza’: White House
The White House has said Donald Trump isn’t ‘committed yet’ to troops in Gaza as part of his plan for rebuilding the Palestinian territory as world leaders reject the plan outright.
Donald Trump has not ruled out sending US troops to Gaza as part of his plan for rebuilding the Palestinian territory, but isn’t committed to boots on the ground, the White House has said.
Mr Trump stunned the world on Wednesday (AEDT) when he announced that the US would take over Gaza and turn into the “Riviera of the Middle East” during a White House press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a proposal that lacked details on how the United States could move out more than two million Palestinians or control Gaza, Mr Trump said he would make the territory “unbelievable” by redeveloping it after removing unexploded bombs and rubble.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it,” he said, to audible gasps from reporters.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to clarify Mr Trump’s plan, telling reporters: “It’s been made very clear to the president that the United States needs to be involved in this rebuilding effort to ensure stability in the region for all people. That does not mean boots on the ground in Gaza, it does not mean American taxpayers will be funding this effort.”
Asked if US troops were being ruled out, she said: “The president has not committed to that just yet.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also weighed in on the controversial proposal, telling reporters Mr Trump only wanted Palestinians to leave temporarily while Gaza was reconstructed, During a trip to Guatemala, Mr Rubio said the plan “was not meant as hostile. It was meant as, I think, a very generous move – the offer to rebuild and to be in charge of the rebuilding.”
World leaders have rejected the plan outright, with the UK, Germany and China joining Arab countries in declaring Gaza belonged to the Palestinians.
Riyadh said it would not formalise ties with Israel without a Palestinian state, while rejecting any “attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land”.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also lashed out, saying relocating Palestinians was something “neither we nor the region can accept”.
The UAE rejected “any attempts of displacement”, saying “regional stability can only be attained through the two-state solution”.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Gazans “must be allowed home. They must be allowed to rebuild.” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Gaza “belongs to the Palestinians”, while Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said: “We are opposed to the forced transfer of the residents of Gaza.”
The Arab League said Trump’s proposal was a “recipe for instability,” while Israeli human rights group B’Tselem described Mr Trump’s plan as “deranged and reprehensible” and a “moral stain on all involved”.
However Israel’s right wing politicians praised the plan, with far right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a strident opponent of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, saying in a statement: “The plan presented yesterday by President Trump is the true answer to October 7. Whoever committed the most terrible massacre on our land will find himself losing his land forever.”
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The question of who owns Gaza has been a complicated one for decades - since the Ottoman Empire, the last sovereign entity to legally own the territory, ceded ownership of the territory in 1923.