Trump’s brazen proposal Tuesday appears certain to roil the next stage of talks meant to extend the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
The provocative comments came as talks are ramping up this week with the promise of surging humanitarian aid and reconstruction supplies to help the people of Gaza recover after more than 15 months of devastating conflict. Now Trump wants to push roughly 1.8 million people to leave the land they have called home and claim it for the U.S., perhaps with American troops.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said at an evening news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his side. The president who made his name as a New York real estate developer added: “We’ll make sure that it’s done world-class. It’ll be wonderful for the people — Palestinians, Palestinians mostly, we’re talking about.”