“As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it. Other people may do it, under our auspices,” Trump said.
Trump’s initial proposal last week for the United States to “take over” Gaza and displace all its residents prompted a swift rebuttal from Saudi Arabia and sparked anger in nearby countries, including Jordan, that are already home to millions of Palestinian refugees. Jordan’s leader, King Abdullah II, is set to meet the president in Washington on Tuesday.
Trump’s plan for the Strip was also met with immediate alarm from the United Nations and others who said it would violate international law, The Washington Post reported. “Any forced displacement of people is tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said when asked about the U.S. president’s proposals.
Trump told reporters Sunday that the United States will make Gaza “into a very good site for future development by somebody. … People can come from all over the world” and live there. He also said he would consider allowing some Palestinians to settle in the United States on a case-by-case basis.
“It’s strange at the moment to be in a period when statecraft seems to have been replaced by real estate craft,” Tom Fletcher, the U.N. humanitarian chief, said of Trump’s plan, speaking in an interview Sunday after he toured the occupied Palestinian territory.
He added that Palestinians must be part of any conversation around the enclave’s future. “I was asking a lot of people what they thought and every single one of them said, ‘We’re not going anywhere. We’ll rebuild our homes again and again and again as we always have done.’”
Here’s what else to know:
- Israel’s military withdrew Sunday from the Netzarim Corridor — a line of fortified checkpoints dividing the central Gaza Strip — as part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas, the militant group said, allowing Palestinians to begin traveling toward the north. Photos showed people traveling from the south of the enclave in vehicles piled high with mattresses and other belongings.
- Israel sent a negotiating team to Qatar over the weekend, where talks for the second phase of the ceasefire are set to occur. Three male Israeli hostages were released Saturday in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners in the fifth round of releases under the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
- Five Thai nationals released by Hamas on Jan 30. landed in Bangkok early Sunday, local media reported. They are in good health, Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said, adding that the government has pressed for the release of one remaining Thai national held hostage.
Matt Viser, Lior Soroka and Niha Masih contributed to this report.
