US President on Tuesday suggested that the US could take control of the Gaza Strip.
He made the comments during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister , who is the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Trump’s return to office.
What did Trump and Netanyahu say?
While speaking alongside Netanyahu at a joint press conference, Trump said that the US would take “ownership” of the Gaza Strip.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it. And be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on this site,” Trump said.
He described Washington’s role in the territory as a “long-term ownership position.”
Trump promised to “develop” Gaza and that Saudi Arabia would be “helpful” there.
He said that Washington had not taken a position on recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, but would likely make an announcement on the topic over the next month.
At the same press conference, Netanyahu hailed Trump as the “greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.”
He said he believed Israel would strike a peace deal with Saudi Arabia. “I think peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia is not only feasible, I think it’s going to happen,” he said.
Trump suggests ‘permanently’ resettling Gaza Palestinians
Trump told a press conference that Palestinians could be moved from Gaza to another location.
“It would be my hope that we could do something really nice, really good, where they wouldn’t want to return,” Trump said as he met Netanyahu in the Oval Office, saying that Palestinians could be resettled “permanently.”
“Why would they want to return? The place has been hell,” he said, while referring to the enclave as a “demolition site.”
“You can’t live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy,” Trump added.
Trump had previously proposed a plan involving moving displaced Palestinians out of Gaza and into other Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt and Jordan. Both Amman and Cairo have rejected the proposal.
Gaza ceasefire negotiations
During the Tuesday meeting, the two leaders discussed the state of the between and Islamists in .
Prior to his arrival, Netanyahu’s office announced that he would dispatch a delegation to participate in a new round of negotiations in Doha, Qatar, later this week.
“Israel is preparing for the working-level delegation to leave for Doha at the end of this week in order to discuss technical details related to the continued implementation of the agreement,” said a statement released after Netanyahu met with Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
That announcement comes on the heels of a recent Hamas statement confirming its readiness to enter negotiations mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar.
Phase two of the ceasefire would see the release of all remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas as well as seeking agreement on concrete steps to end the conflict that began on October 7, 2023, with a that killed some 1,200 people and saw nearly 250 more abducted.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar, Saim Dušan Inayatullah
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