President Trump said on Thursday that he wants the US to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone,” signaling he hasn’t given up on his idea for a US takeover of the territory.
The president made the comments during a meeting with business leaders in Qatar before heading to the UAE later in the day.
“I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good: Make it a freedom zone. Let the United States get involved, and make it just a freedom zone,” the president said.
“I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone, let some good things happen. Put people in homes where they can be safe, and Hamas is going to have to be dealt with,” he added.
Trump first called for a US takeover of the Gaza Strip back in February, and has said it could be turned into the “Riviera” of the Middle East. Based on his previous comments, his vision would require the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population, which he has framed as voluntary.
The president has said that Palestinians could no longer live in Gaza due to the vast destruction Israel has inflicted on the territory. “I have aerial shots where, I mean, there’s practically no building standing. It’s not like you’re trying to save something. There’s no building. People are living under the rubble of buildings that collapsed, which is not acceptable,” he said on Thursday.
Israel’s plans for escalation in Gaza would involve demolishing any remaining buildings in the Strip and “concentrating” the civilian population in Gaza into a tiny area in the south and pressuring them to leave, though it’s unclear if any countries are willing to take a large number of Palestinian refugees.
According to a report from NBC News, Trump is frustrated with Israel’s plans to escalate in Gaza because he sees it “at odds with his plan for rebuilding there.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be taking the idea of a US takeover of Gaza seriously. According to Israeli media, Netanyahu recently told a Knesset committee that the ethnic cleansing of Gaza was “inevitable” but that he wasn’t discussing the idea of Jewish settlements at the moment because the US wants the territory.
Limor Son Har-Melech, an Israeli MK and member of the Jewish Power Party, suggested American Jews could move to Gaza. “Bring the Jews from the United States, this way we’ll hit two birds with one stone,” he said.
