President Donald Trump announced a surprise plan to take over the war-torn Gaza Strip and develop its economy after resettling Palestinians elsewhere, a proposal that would significantly break with decades of U.S. policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Trump revealed the plan during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, though he did not provide specific details.
The announcement followed Trump’s shock proposal earlier on Tuesday for the permanent resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries, calling the enclave – where the first phase of a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire is in effect – a “demolition site.”
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.”
“If it’s necessary, we’ll do that, we’re going to take over that piece, we’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it’ll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of,” Trump added.
‘Thinking Outside The Box’
Asked who would live there, Trump said it could become a home to “the world’s people”. Trump touted the narrow strip, where Israel’s military assault in response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023, cross-border attack has leveled large swaths, as having the potential to be “The Riviera of the Middle East”.
Netanyahu, whose military had engaged in more than a year of fierce fighting with Hamas militants in Gaza, said Trump was “thinking outside the box with fresh ideas” and was “showing willingness to puncture conventional thinking”.
Some foreign policy experts have suggested Trump sometimes takes an extreme position to set the parameters for future negotiations. In his first term, Trump at times issued what were seen as over-the-top foreign policy pronouncements, many of which he never implemented.
Questions About U.S. Authority
On Tuesday, Trump did not directly respond to a question of how and under what authority the U.S. can take over and occupy Gaza, home to around two million people with a long, violent history over control of the coastal strip.
The U.S. taking a direct stake there would run counter to decades of policy in Washington and much of the international community, which has held that Gaza would eventually be part of a Palestinian state that includes the occupied West Bank.
Successive U.S. administrations, including Trump in his first term, had avoided deploying U.S. troops there.
“I do see a long-term ownership position and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East,” he said, adding that he had spoken to regional leaders and they supported the idea.
“I’ve studied this very closely over a lot of months,” Trump added, saying he would visit Gaza but without saying when.
President Trump reiterated his call for Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab states to resettle Gazans, suggesting that Palestinians have no choice but to leave Gaza after 16 months of conflict. He proposed permanent resettlement, a move likely to face significant opposition, as it could be viewed as forced displacement, potentially violating international law and provoking strong backlash from both regional actors and Western allies.
Hamas Condemns Trump
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri condemned Trump’s calls for Gazans to leave as “expulsion from their land”.
“We consider them a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, offered no specifics on how a resettlement process could be implemented but his proposal echoed the wishes of Israel’s far right and contradicted Democratic former President Joe Biden’s commitment against mass displacement of Palestinians.
The Saudi government, in a statement, stressed its rejection of any attempt to displace Palestinians from their land and said it would not establish relations with Israel without establishment of a Palestinian state.
Demolition Site
Just two weeks into his second term, Trump was hosting Netanyahu at the White House to discuss the future of the Gaza ceasefire, strategies to counter Iran and hopes for a renewed push for an Israeli-Saudi normalization deal.
In his first two weeks in office, Trump proposed a U.S. takeover of Gaza, calling it a “symbol of death and destruction.” At a press conference, he suggested Palestinians should be resettled in other countries, while the U.S. would “level” Gaza and create economic development, though he provided no specifics on how this would be achieved. This proposal followed other controversial statements, including about Greenland and Canada’s status.
He was also vague on where the Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza would go, saying he was confident Egypt and Jordan would take many of them, despite those governments already rejecting the idea.
Netanyahu, referred to a few times by Trump by his nickname, “Bibi”, would not be drawn into discussing the proposal in depth other than to praise Trump for trying a new approach.
What impact Trump’s proposals have on negotiations over the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal was unclear, as Hamas has adamantly insisted it wants to remain in Gaza while Netanyahu has vowed to destroy the group and never allow it to again rule the territory.
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, played a key role in helping the Biden administration secure the long-sought Gaza deal before the January 20 transfer of power in the U.S. The first phase has led to Hamas’ release of 18 hostages and Israel’s release of hundreds of jailed Palestinians.
“We’re in Phase 2 now,” Witkoff told reporters earlier. He said he met Netanyahu on Monday to discuss parameters for the policy negotiations and would meet the prime minister of Qatar, a mediator in the negotiations, in the U.S. on Thursday.
(With inputs from Reuters)
