Trump floats US taking over Gaza Strip

President Trump on Tuesday floated the idea of the U.S. taking over the Gaza Strip, saying America should be responsible for clearing the territory of rubble and unexploded bombs and proposing an “economic development.”

Trump’s remarks are some of his most extreme rhetoric regarding the future of the territory where nearly 2 million Palestinians live and hope to be part of a future Palestinian state. Trump also suggested the U.S. would develop the land but gave no details on who would be allowed to live there.

The president said he envisioned Palestinians will live there but seemed to describe the territory as an international hub where “the world’s people” would use it for access to the Mediterranean coast.

The idea appears to build on Trump’s 2020 peace plan that envisioned Gaza’s coastline developed for commercial and leisure resorts. The plan was developed by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose background is in real estate development.

“I think you'll make that into an international, unbelievable place… I don't want to be cute, I don't want to be a wise guy, but the Riviera of the Middle East… this could be so magnificent."

Asked about the possibility of sending U.S. troops to Gaza, Trump said the U.S. will “do what is necessary” as he laid out plans for the U.S. to take the area over, and suggested he would visit the territory.

“As far as Gaza is concerned, we’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that,” Trump said.

“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job — whether 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,” Trump said.

“Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area, do a real job, do something different.”

Trump made the statements during his opening remarks at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

"I do see a long-term ownership position," Trump continued.

"This was not a decision made lightly. Everybody I've spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent in a really magnificent area that nobody would know, nobody can look because all they see is death and destruction and rubble and demolished buildings falling all over."

Earlier, Trump said Palestinians in Gaza could be relocated and settled elsewhere, and that they should not want to return to Gaza.

Trump called for countries “of interest with humanitarian hearts” to build “various domains” that could “be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza.”

Netanyahu praised Trump as a leader who thinks outside the box.

“You say things others refuse to say and after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads and they say, ‘You know, he’s right,’” Netanyahu said.

Asked if he supports Trump's proposal, Netanyahu said "President Trump is taking it to a much higher level. ... He sees a different future for that piece of land."

Arab nations have publicly rejected displacing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

“Palestinians do not want to leave their land,” a senior Palestinian official and the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week.

“We support their position unequivocally,” they wrote in the letter, which called for Palestinians to “live in their land and help rebuild it.”

Trump later in his remarks from the White House reiterated that the U.S. would rebuild the strip.

“As far as Gaza’s concerned, we will do what’s necessary. … We’re going to take over that piece and we’re going to develop it. Create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it’s going to be something that [the] entire Middle East can be proud of,” Trump said.

“I think we’ll be a great keeper of something that is very, very strong,” he said, adding that jobs created in Gaza will be “for everybody.”

Alex Gangitano contributed to this story.

Updated at 7:40 p.m. EST

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