 "A man stands by a fire next to a destroyed house in an area littered with rubble from buildings demolished during the Israeli army's ground and air offensive against Hamas in Gaza City. US President Donald Trump, on Tuesday, announced that there was a plan for the US to \"take over Gaza\" and transform it into the \"Riviera of the Middle East\". AP")
It was a meeting that had everyone’s attention and it didn’t disappoint. Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House on Tuesday (February 4) and it was the press conference after that has generated the big headline of the day.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it,” said US President Donald Trump in the press conference following his meeting with Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu — his first with a foreign leader in his second term.
Without providing any further details on his plan, Trump added that he would make the war-battered enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Here’s a closer look at what Trump is proposing for the Gaza Strip and what experts and others think of his plan.
What is the Gaza Strip?
Before we analyse what Donald Trump said about the Gaza Strip and his plans for it, let’s understand what is this piece of land. The Gaza Strip is a narrow strip of land wedged between Israel and Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea that is roughly the size of Washington, DC.
After the creation of Israel in 1948, Egypt controlled Gaza for nearly two decades. After Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War against its Arab neighbours, it gained control of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. For the next 38 years, it controlled the strip and enabled the construction of 21 Jewish settlements.
Before the October 7 war began, the Gaza Strip housed over two million Palestinians within roughly 140 square miles, making it “one of the world’s most densely populated territories. Today, owing to the war, Gaza has been levelled, with almost no buildings standing and thousands of Palestinians killed.
What is Trump proposing for Gaza?
After having a sit-down with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the two leaders held a joint press conference in which US President Donald Trump made the surprise assertion that Washington should take over Gaza.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it, said Trump to reporters. The president, who once was perhaps New York’s most famous 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.”
He further explained that the US would redevelop the territory after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and turn the territory into a place where the “world’s people”— including Palestinians — would live. However, he offered no detail about what authority the US would use to take the land and develop it.
The US president suggested that he sees the US having a “long-term ownership position” and that his plan would help “bring great stability to that part of the Middle East”.
Trump said later, “This was not a decision made lightly. Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent.”
In his plan to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East, Trump also suggested that Palestinians from Gaza should ‘permanently’ resettle elsewhere. According to him, “I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza.
“You can’t live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy. You look over the decades, it’s all death in Gaza. This has been happening for years. It’s all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza.”
Trump further called on Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries to take in Palestinians from Gaza temporarily while reconstruction takes place. Unsurprisingly, Arab countries have already formed a united front rejecting any plan to resettle Gazans.
“I hope that we could do something where they wouldn’t want to go back,” Trump said about resettling Gazans in Gaza. “Who would want to go back? They’ve experienced nothing but death and destruction.”
When asked if he was willing to deploy US troops to fill a security vacuum in Gaza, Trump did not rule it out. “As far as Gaza is concerned, we’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that. We’re going to take over that piece that we’re going to develop it,” he said.
What does Netanyahu think of Trump’s Gaza plan?
And what does Israel’s Netanyahu think of Trump’s Riviera Gaza plan? The Israeli PM praised the US president for his efforts. But when asked specifically about the plan, Netanyahu said that one of his war goals is to ensure that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again.
But “President Trump is taking it to a much higher level,” he said. “He sees a different future for that piece of land that has been the focus of such much terrorism, so many attacks against us… He has a different idea.”
“I think it’s worth paying attention to this,” Netanyahu added. “We’re talking about it. He’s exploring it with his people, with his staff. I think it’s something that could change history, and it’s worthwhile really pursuing this avenue.”
The Israeli prime minister asserted that there could be no peace in the region if the “toxic, murderous” Hamas is left standing, any more than you could make peace in Europe after World War II if the Nazi regime and army were left standing. “You want a different future? You gotta knock out the people who want to destroy you and destroy peace. That’s what we’re going to do,” he said.
What are the criticisms against Trump’s Gaza plan?
Shortly after the press conference, Trump’s remarks were slammed by many for having a lack of clarity and a continuance of his expansionist policies.
The Democrats expressed shock and condemned Trump for his plan, with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy writing on X, “He (Trump) has totally lost it. A US invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of US troops and decades of war in the Middle East. It’s like a bad, sick joke.”
California Congressman Eric Swalwell posted on X: “Wait what? The US is going to occupy Gaza?
“We were promised no more endless wars. By my count we are occupying Greenland, Canada, Panama Canal, and now… Gaza?”
But it wasn’t just the Democrats questioning Trump. The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, also questioned Trump. In a video on X, he said, “For those that want to send them to a happy, nice place let them go back to their original homes inside Israel.
“Our homeland is our homeland… they want to rebuild Gaza, the schools, the hospitals, the infrastructure because this is where they belong and they love to live there. And I think that leaders should respect the wishes of the Palestinian people.”
Saudi Arabia, shortly after Trump’s remarks, issued a sharply worded reaction to Trump, noting their long call for an independent Palestinian state was a “firm, steadfast and unwavering position.” Israel in exchange for a security pact and other terms.
“The duty of the international community today is to work to alleviate the severe human suffering endured by the Palestinian people, who will remain committed to their land and will not budge from it,” the Saudi statement said.
Even analysts questioned Trump’s plan, saying it seemed more rhetoric than reality. Brian Katulis, a senior fellow for US foreign policy at the Middle East Institute, noted that Trump’s suggestion for the US to take over Gaza was made off the cuff and that the US president has no real plan behind it.
“I think he is just making things up off the cuff. Most certainly there is no plan behind this,” Katulis told Reuters. “And if there is it is not a plan that has any connection to reality in today’s Middle East, and certainly not in any consultations with the Palestinians or neighbouring countries like Egypt and Jordan.”
Other also noted that the US president’s comments were more reflective of his expansionist rhetoric , suggesting it could encourage Russia in its war in Ukraine and give China justification for invading self-ruled Taiwan.
Furthermore, a permanent resettling as Trump proposed, may be violative of international law. Under international law, attempts to forcibly transfer populations are strictly prohibited, and Palestinians as well as Arab nations will see it as nothing short of a clear proposal aimed at their expulsion and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land.
How have Trump officials defended the plan?
But regardless of the criticisms, Trump’s officials seemed optimistic about the Gaza plan. Rallying around his president, Steve Witkoff , who is Trump’s West Asia envoy, said that Palestinians need not be tied to the land where they now live in order to have a better life. “Peace in the region means a better life for the Palestinians. A better life is not necessarily tied to the physical space that you are in today,” Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News.
“The president is saying, ‘Let’s make it better for these people. Let’s give them more hope. Let them make that choice.’ And I think he’s right,” he adds.
Other officials also noted that Trump was trying to look at the problem realistically and not imposing a solution.
But what comes of this, no one knows.
With inputs from agencies