Donald Trump says the US will ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip and ‘level it’ in talks with Netanyahu
Donald Trump has revealed a radical plan for the US to own Gaza – suggesting removing “all” Palestinians living there – after a meeting with Israel’s PM. Follow updates.
Donald Trump proposed the US would take over Gaza and remove “all” Palestinians in a bombshell move that could reshape the Middle East.
Mr Trump’s bold plan for the US to take a “long-term ownership position” to redevelop the war-torn enclave – potentially with American boots on the ground – was welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a move that could “change history”.
The President also suggested he was prepared to go even further, flagging a decision within weeks on whether to support a far-right push in Israel to annex the Palestinian-controlled West Bank.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Mr Trump said.
“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 — level it out and create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
Mr Trump’s extraordinary comments came as he welcomed Mr Netanyahu to Washington DC for his first meeting with a foreign leader since he returned to power last month.
Speaking in the Oval Office, as he complained that he would never receive the Nobel Peace Prize even though he deserved it, Mr Trump called for Gaza’s 2.2 million residents to move permanently to “a good, fresh, beautiful piece of land”.
“I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza,” the President said, suggesting instead that Palestinians should be resettled “permanently in nice homes and where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death”.
The move was immediately opposed by Arab leaders, amid fears Mr Trump’s move to effectively reject the creation of a Palestinian state could jeopardise peace in the region after 15 months of devastating fighting sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the President’s proposal of an alternative homeland was “a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region” after a decades-long struggle.
“What is needed is the end of the occupation and the aggression against our people, not expelling them from their land,” he said.
But Mr Trump doubled down at a later press conference, saying Palestinians in Gaza had a “miserable existence” and that their homeland “should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people”.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it,” he said, declaring Palestinian control would “never work” and that America could instead turn the “demolition site” into “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
Calling Gaza a “hellhole”, Mr Trump said it could be redeveloped to house “the world’s people”, although he dodged questions about what legal authority the US would have to take over the enclave and where its residents would live.
Asked if American troops would be required, he said: “If it’s necessary, we’ll do that.”
Republican senator Lindsey Graham said that would be “problematic”, while his colleague Josh Hawley warned it would not be “the best use of United States resources”.
An Arab diplomat told CNN Mr Trump’s intervention “raises significant concerns, particularly as we strive to maintain a fragile ceasefire and negotiate a potential hostage deal.”
Mr Trump had earlier pushed for Palestinians displaced by the war to be taken in by Israel’s neighbours in Egypt and Jordan. But Arab leaders had dismissed this, adding that peace could only come with a two-state solution rather than the annexation of Palestinian land.
The President boasted of “tremendous” backing for his idea, although he was vague when asked if Saudi Arabia would support it, given creating a Palestinian state is a key demand for normalising relations with Israel in a diplomatic power play that would weaken Iran.
The Saudi foreign ministry later confirmed it would not form ties with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
But Mr Netanyahu said he thought peace with Saudi Arabia was “going to happen”, even as he said of Mr Trump’s shock proposal: “It’s worthwhile really pursuing this avenue.”
The President’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff earlier told reporters it was “preposterous” to suggest to Palestinians that “they might be back in five years”, given the scale of the rebuilding effort required after the war.
On a day of drama, Mr Trump also withdrew American support for the United Nations relief agency in Gaza, while revealing he had “left instructions” to destroy Iran if it succeeded in assassinating him after a failed plot during last year’s presidential election campaign.
“If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end,” he said.
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Originally published as Donald Trump says the US will ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip and ‘level it’ in talks with Netanyahu