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Donald Trump has said that the Gaza Strip would be turned over to the US by Israel only after fighting had ceased in the war-torn territory and that no American troops would be needed to maintain stability.
The US president made his latest announcement about the proposal to take over Gaza on Thursday, a day after allies at home, in the Middle East and Europe had objected to his plans and the White House sought to assuage fears of a protracted military intervention.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. He added that the Palestinian people “would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region”.
He said the US, working with teams from “all over the world”, would “slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth”.
Trump’s initial announcement on Tuesday that the US would take over Gaza and use force if needed sparked uproar in the Arab world, with officials from across the region warning that any forced displacement of Palestinians would breach international law and fuel regional instability.
It also drew criticism from some of his domestic allies, with some Republicans saying it strayed from his “America First” agenda and his longtime objection to US intervention in “endless” foreign wars.
But Israeli officials welcomed the idea, with defence minister Israel Katz saying on Thursday morning that he ordered the military to prepare a plan that would allow Gazans to leave “voluntarily”. Katz said this would include options for exit by land, sea and air, but gave no further details.
HA Hellyer, senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said Katz’s plan for having Palestinians leave Gaza increased the pressure on Egypt and was “a clear signal” to Cairo, the Palestinians and to domestic public opinion in Israel.
“The Israeli government thinks they have some momentum with Trump but are not sure how he will continue to press for the displacement of the Palestinians from Gaza,” he said. “It keeps the pressure on and excludes any kind of political process for the Palestinians. This is about rearranging the goalposts and keeping everybody off balance.”
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