U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday night voiced support for President Donald Trump’s proposal for a U.S. takeover of Gaza, emphasising that the Palestinian territory must be cleared of the Islamist group Hamas.
Trump’s Gaza Takeover Plan
Rubio’s statement comes hours after Trump proposed a U.S. takeover of Gaza where Israel’s military assault in the last 16 months has killed tens of thousands.
Earlier, the U.S. President suggested that Palestinians in the enclave should be permanently displaced. The idea was condemned by experts and rights advocates.
Trump’s earlier comments that Palestinians should move to Egypt and Jordan were already rejected publicly by Palestinian leaders and leaders of the Arab world while being condemned by human rights advocates as amounting to a proposal of ethnic cleansing.
Hamas-Free Gaza
“Gaza MUST BE FREE from Hamas. As @POTUS shared today, the United States stands ready to lead and Make Gaza Beautiful Again,” Rubio said on X. “Our pursuit is one of lasting peace in the region for all people.”
While Trump had floated suggestions of Palestinian displacement since January 25, statements issued since by Rubio’s State Department on its websites after the top U.S. diplomat’s subsequent calls with regional leaders did not explicitly mention Trump’s suggestion.
Trump did not offer much detail in his Tuesday proposal. Rubio’s post also did not elaborate further.
Israel-Hamas Conflict
U.S. ally Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed over 47,000 Palestinians in the last 16 months, according to the Gaza health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.
The assault internally displaced nearly Gaza’s entire population and caused a hunger crisis. The fighting has currently paused amid a fragile ceasefire.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
(With inputs from Reuters)
