President Trump has confirmed that beneath his controversial growth plan for the war-torn Gaza Strip, Palestinians wouldn’t be allowed to return to the Hamas-run enclave.
“No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing. Much better,” Trump informed Fox Information “Special Report” host Bret Baier in a clip from the weekend interview that aired Monday morning on “Fox & Friends.”
“In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever — it’s not habitable,” the president went on. “It would be years before it could happen.”
Final week, Trump revealed his aspirations for the US to “take over the Gaza Strip” and develop the coastal land to show it into “the Riviera of the Middle East,” whereas indicating that “all” of its roughly 2 million present inhabitants could be pushed out to neighboring nations.
Each White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Secretary of State Marco Rubio subsequently claimed that Trump merely needed the Palestinians resettled out of Gaza “temporarily” or for an “interim” interval throughout reconstruction efforts.
Reacting to Trump’s plan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed Fox Information Feb. 5 that Palestinians may “relocate and come back.”
“The actual idea of allowing Gazans who want to leave to leave — I mean, what’s wrong with that?” Netanyahu added on the time. “They can leave, they can then come back.”
Trump prompt over the weekend that neighboring Arab international locations corresponding to Egypt or Jordan may take within the Gazans and that the US would possibly even assist foot the invoice.
“I’m talking about starting to build, and I think I could make a deal with Jordan. I think I could make a deal with Egypt. You know, we give them billions and billions of dollars a year,” he added to Baier.
Officers from each Egypt and Jordan have rejected Trump’s pitch and Cairo has since introduced an emergency Arab summit on Feb. 27 to deal with “new and dangerous developments.”
Trump has insisted that the Gazans could be taken care of beneath his plan.
“We’ll build beautiful communities for the 1.9 million people. We’ll build beautiful communities, safe communities … a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” he added.
“In the meantime, I would own this,” he continued. “Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent.”
The Gaza Strip has been shattered by 16 months of battle between Israel and Hamas following the Oct. 7, 2023, assault towards the Jewish state by Hamas — which killed an estimated 1,200 individuals within the deadliest day for Jews for the reason that Holocaust.
Whereas sources inform The Submit that Trump’s plan shouldn’t be a bluff, high administration officers say final week’s announcement was a gambit meant to push Arab states to suggest their very own options.
Seven minutes of Trump’s interview with Baier aired through the Fox community’s Tremendous Bowl pregame protection Sunday, with the remainder of the interview attributable to be broadcast Monday on “Special Report.”
