US President Donald Trump said he wants the US to take control of the Gaza Strip. Washington would turn the territory into the "Riviera of the Middle East", which would become attractive for work and tourism. To do this, the Palestinians would have to leave, he said.
Trump announced his ideas during his joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington. Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to visit the US president since the start of his second term.
Gaza - US Property?
Trump said he would take "ownership" of the Gaza Strip. "The United States will control the Gaza Strip and we will do a good job. We will own it. We will be responsible for clearing all the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons that are there", the American president said.
According to him, Washington's role in the region is "long-term" and aims to develop it. The American president added that in his opinion, the residents of Gaza "would gladly leave if they had the opportunity. Right now, they don't have that opportunity." The 47th US president also said that Washington has not yet made a decision on whether to declare the West Bank sovereign Israeli territory, but will probably make a statement on this issue within the next month.
During the press conference, Benjamin Netanyahu called Trump "the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House". According to Netanyahu, Trump "sees things that others don't want to see" and "says things that others refuse to say". The Israeli prime minister did not criticize his plans for Gaza either. His idea "deserves attention", Netanyahu said.
Trump proposes that Palestinians be displaced from Gaza
According to the US president, the Palestinians should be "moved to another location". Trump also confirmed that this plan includes permanently displacing them from the Gaza Strip. "I hope it will be in a very nice place, very good, so that they do not want to go back", he added. The US president has already proposed that the Palestinians be settled in Egypt and Jordan, but Cairo and Amman categorically refused.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio supported Trump's proposed plan for the Gaza Strip. He wrote on his X profile that Gaza "must be free of Hamas" and that the US is ready to lead it and "make Gaza beautiful again".
Riyadh rejects Trump's idea
Trump announced that Saudi Arabia could help implement his plans because they wanted "peace in the Middle East" and did not care about the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Riyadh unequivocally rejected Trump's claims. After the press conference of the American head of state and the Israeli prime minister, the Saudi Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the kingdom would not normalize its relations with Israel until a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital was established. The position said that Riyadh was "unwavering" in his opinion on this issue, which is "non-negotiable". Netanyahu had earlier said that he expected the normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia to become a fact soon.
#Statement | The Foreign Ministry affirms that Saudi Arabia’s position on the establishment of a Palestinian state is firm and unwavering. HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister clearly and unequivocally reaffirmed this stance. pic.twitter.com/0uuoq8h12I
— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) February 5, 2025
Ahead of Trump and Netanyahu's meeting, the foreign ministers of Egypt and Turkey - another country involved in mediating an end to the conflict - issued a joint statement rejecting any proposal to relocate or resettle Palestinians to "countries outside the Palestinian territories, whether short-term or long-term".
Trump's proposal for the future of Gaza has also sparked outrage in the United States. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy said the president has "totally lost his mind."
How will this affect the Gaza ceasefire?
Netanyahu and Trump also discussed the Gaza ceasefire during their meeting. In a statement, US special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff said Israel was preparing a delegation to travel to Doha to discuss the technical framework for extending the ceasefire agreement.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior representative of the terrorist organization Hamas, commented on Trump's ideas as follows: "We believe that they are a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region, because the people of the Gaza Strip will not allow such plans." Hamas had previously stated that they were ready to participate in negotiations to enter a new phase of the ceasefire. It is expected that Hamas will release all remaining hostages and begin to look for concrete options for a final end to the war.
The idea of the United States taking control of territories in the Middle East would be a dramatic turn for Trump, who promised to withdraw the country from the region back in 2016, commented the "New York Times". When presenting the plan, Trump did not say on what legal basis he would seize the territory, nor did he draw attention to the fact that the forced removal of a population violates international law.
Author: Mina Kirkova