Trump says US could ‘take over’ Gaza, send refugees to neighbors

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump proposed the United States taking over the Gaza Strip and assuming responsibility for reconstructing the war-torn territory during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said at the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 4. “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, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”

Trump also repeated calls for other nations in the region to take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, despite neighboring countries stating publicly they were not interested in doing so.

“It should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there,” Trump said. “Instead, we should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, and there are many of them, that want to do this, and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza, ending the death and destruction and frankly bad luck.”

Earlier in the Oval Office, Trump said “really rich” nations will supply land, and several areas could be built to permanently house Palestinians “where they can live a beautiful life.” He suggested the new developments would be nice enough that Palestinian refugees would not want to return to their homeland.

Trump’s proposal all but sweeps away decades of U.S. policy in support of Palestinian statehood, including during his first term, when he once said “I like the two-state solution.” The status of Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank, as well as refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, had been expected to be settled somewhere within that future state.

But the prospects for Palestinian statehood rarely appeared so remote, with Netanyahu’s government now pledging it will never happen. Some of Netanyahu’s hard-right supporters in Israel have previously called for clearing all Palestinians out of Gaza and making it an extension of the Jewish state.

Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu takes place at a pivotal moment, as negotiators attempt to broker the next phase of an agreement that could bring an end to the war in Gaza. Much of the enclave is in ruins after Israel’s 15-month war in response to the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, which is now in a six-week ceasefire.

Trump has repeatedly said he’d like to see the Gaza Strip cleared out in the wake of Israel’s devastating military campaign against the territory.

The idea faces long odds. Egypt and Jordan as well as the Arab League have pushed back on Trump’s idea, as have Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the Palestinian Authority itself. Asked about the fact that Jordan has swatted down the idea, Trump pointed to Venezuela, which recently agreed to take back deportees from the U.S. after refusing for a year.

“Look, the Gaza thing has not worked,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office earlier in the day. “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, somewhere.”

“I don’t know how they can want to stay,” Trump said. “It’s a demolition site. It’s a pure demolition site.”

Israel and Hamas remain far apart on crucial issues. Netanyahu has pledged to achieve total victory over Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the U.S., and return all the hostages taken in the group’s assault on Israel that started the war. Some right-wing members of Netanyahu’s coalition have been critical of the deal and have pressured him to resume the war.

Hamas has said it will not release Israeli hostages in a second stage of the ceasefire unless Netanyahu agrees to end the war and pull Israeli forces out of the Gaza territory it controls.

Trump has offered unorthodox solutions to ending the conflict. The U.S. president has been outspoken in support of Israel but has also pledged to wind down the conflict and took credit for the deal, which was agreed to during the final days of his predecessor Joe Biden’s presidency.

“They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize,” Trump said. “I deserve it but they will never give it.”

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