MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US to take control of Gaza and redevelop it, Trump says

Netanyahu welcomed Trump's initiative but human rights groups said it meant ethnic cleansing

US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House that his country intends to seize control of the Gaza Strip and have the local population resettled elsewhere. The Republican leader said rebuilding the enclave was near impossible after it became a “demolition site” following Israel's retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, mass murders and abductions from the Gaza-based pro-Palestine terrorist group Hamas.

“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,” he added while pledging to develop the area and “create thousands and thousands of jobs” for “the entire Middle East [to] be very proud of.” Asked who would live there, Trump said it could become a home to “the world's people.”

Trump declares The US will now take over The Gaza Strip, leaving it up to Israel to own.

This will force Palestinians to seek refuge in Egypt or Jordan. America funds all three Nations, thus America is able to mediate in this way. pic.twitter.com/MAi6e1QxzT

— Sam Mitha (@MithaEXP) February 5, 2025

The Republican leader said he had discussed the initiative with regional leaders who supported the idea. “I do see a long-term ownership position and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East,” he explained. “I've studied this very closely over a lot of months,” Trump added.

In Netanyahu's view, Trump was “thinking outside the box with fresh ideas” and “showing a willingness to puncture conventional thinking.”

Human rights organizations condemned Trump's proposal as a form of ethnic cleansing, emphasizing that forced displacement violates international law. Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri condemned Trump's calls for Gazans to leave as “expulsion from their land” and warned that it was “a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass” despite the US President's belief that relocating “to some really nice places ... where they can be happy and not shot, nor killed ... would be a lot better than going back to Gaza.”

These people should be housed in “various domains” in other countries while the US takes over the Gaza Strip and creates economic development. “Look, the Gaza thing has not worked. It's never worked. And I feel very differently about Gaza than a lot of people. I think they should get a good, fresh, beautiful piece of land, and we get some people to put up the money to build it and make it nice and make it habitable and enjoyable,” Trump also noted. He believes Jordan and Egypt “won’t tell me no” when “I want to remove all the residents of Gaza.”

“They have no alternative right now. I mean, they're there because they have no alternative. What do they have? It is a big pile of rubble right now. I mean, have you seen the pictures of it? Have you been there? It's terrible to live. Who can live like that?” Trump also pointed out.

There are “approximately 1.8 million people” in Gaza, and “they can all live somewhere where they will have great lives without fearing for their lives every day,” Trump also argued about his projected “Riviera of the Middle East.” In addition, he did not rule out deploying US troops to Gaza.

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.