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Trump doubles down on Gaza shock plan, says Israel will turn over the territory to US

US President Donald Trump listens to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2025. (AFP)
  • Trump first made the stunning proposal to audible gasps during a joint press conference with Netanyahu on Tuesday, whom he was hosting at the White House for talks
  • Suggesting "long-term ownership" by the US, Trump said he would make Gaza the Riviera of the Middle East, and that "this could be something that could be so magnificient".

Washington, United States – President Donald Trump said Thursday that Gaza would be “turned over” by Israel to the United States when the conflict is over, and no soldiers would be needed for his subsequent takeover and redevelopment plan.

Trump doubled down on the shock plan he first announced on Tuesday — and on his plan to resettle two million Palestinians elsewhere from Gaza in the Middle East — on his Truth Social network.

“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” Trump said in an early morning post.

“No soldiers by the US would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”

Trump stunned the world by announcing during a joint press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday that “the US will take over the Gaza Strip.”

“We will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it,” he said to audible gasps during the press conference, saying the United States would remove unexploded bombs and rubble and rebuild the war-torn enclave.

But he offered few details and his administration appeared to backtrack Wednesday after facing a wave of criticism from Palestinians, Arab governments and world leaders.

Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the idea “was not meant to be hostile,” while the White House said there was no commitment to sending US troops and that any displacement of Palestinians would be “temporary.”

The Republican president however showed Thursday that he still wanted to press ahead with the plan as he had originally announced it, including the mass displacement of Palestinians.

Trump said that by the time of his planned handover by Israel to the United States Palestinians “would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region.”

“They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free,” Trump added.

“The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth.”

Trump had given mixed signals on Tuesday who would inhabit his planned post-war Gaza, saying it would be “the world’s people” but that “also, Palestinians would live there.”

The New York Times reported on Thursday that Trump had surprised both his own staff and the Israelis with the “hastily-written” plan for Gaza, with no discussions with the Pentagon or the State Department.

Israel’s defense minister meanwhile ordered the army on Thursday to prepare for “voluntary” departures from Gaza, following Trump’s remarks.

Trump had said there was support from the “highest leadership” in the Middle East and upped pressure on Egypt and Jordan to take displaced Gazans — despite both countries and the Palestinians flatly rejecting the surprise idea.

Suggesting “long-term ownership” by the United States, Trump said his plan for Gaza would make it “the Riviera of the Middle East. This could be something that could be so magnificent.

Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump will discuss the future of the Gaza ceasefire. (AFP)

The Palestinian envoy to the UN had pushed back strongly at Trump’s suggestions earlier Tuesday — before his proposal the United States take the territory over — for his people to be resettled.

“Our homeland is our homeland,” said Riyad Mansour.

“And I think that leaders and people should respect the wishes of the Palestinian people.”

Gazans have also denounced Trump’s resettlement idea. “Trump thinks Gaza is a pile of garbage — absolutely not,” said 34-year-old Hatem Azzam, a resident of the southern city of Rafah.

Egypt, Jordan and ceasefire mediator Qatar have all flatly rejected Trump’s suggestion of moving Palestinians from Gaza.

The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, taking into Gaza 251 hostages, 76 of whom are still held in the Palestinian territory including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory response has killed at least 47,518 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures as reliable.

The truce that took effect on January 18 has led to a surge of food, fuel, medical and other aid into Gaza, and allowed people displaced by the war to return to the north of the Palestinian territory.

But since the Gaza ceasefire took effect, Israel has launched a deadly operation against militants in the occupied West Bank’s north.