“I think that it’s a big mistake to allow people – the Palestinians, or the people living in Gaza – to go back yet another time, and we don’t want Hamas going back,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he travelled to the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
“And think of it as a big real estate site, and the United States is going to own it and we’ll slowly – very slowly, we’re in no rush – develop it. We’re going to bring stability to the Middle East soon.”
Trump, a former real estate magnate, described Gaza as a “demolition site” that would be “levelled out” and “fixed up”.
He again suggested that other Middle Eastern countries would house displaced Palestinians in “beautiful sites”.
Trump first raised the proposal Tuesday during a joint press conference alongside his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said, later describing his vision for the area as a new “Riviera”.
Ninety per cent of Gaza residents have been displaced, and many have been forced to move repeatedly amid Israel’s war against Hamas, according to the United Nations.
Regional leaders have rejected Trump’s plans, which break with decades of US foreign policy.
His proposals are expected to be a key topic of discussion when the president hosts the king of Jordan at the White House this week.
But Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, suggested earlier today that Trump was offering an initial salvo to bring other players in the region to the table to find a solution.
“Come to the table with your plan if you don’t like his plan,” Waltz said during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, adding that the White House has received “all kinds of outreach” since Trump’s comments earlier this week.
