Trump suggests America will take over Gaza Strip and expel residents

President Donald Trump suggested during a press briefing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday evening that the United States will "take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too."

On his first day in office, Trump suggested that "some beautiful things can be done" with the Gaza Strip, a 140.9-square-mile stretch of war-torn coastal land that has a "phenomenal location on the sea, the best weather" but presently looks like a "massive demolition site."

Trump noted in his prepared remarks at the briefing Tuesday that Gaza's over 1.8 million Palestinian residents should be sent to "other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts" at the expense of neighboring countries.

'Do a real job. Do something different.'

"The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is because they have no alternative," said Trump. "This is just a demolition site. Virtually every building is down. They're living under fallen concrete that's very dangerous and very precarious. They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again."

Trump indicated that with the Palestinians out, the U.S. will "own" Gaza and assume responsibility for disarming unexploded bombs and munitions; removing ruined structures; leveling the site; and creating an economic development zone that "will supply an unlimited number of jobs and housing for the people of the area."

"Do a real job. Do something different," said Trump.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs — an outfit previously run by a British diplomat who denied that Hamas was a terrorist organization — as of last month, 92% of housing units in Gaza were destroyed or severely damaged; 69% of all structures were destroyed or damaged; over 80% of commercial facilities were kaput; and 68% of the total road network was ruined.

Daniel Egel, a senior economist at the RAND Corporation, told Bloomberg in August that the cost to rebuild Gaza, which by then had been reduced to roughly 46.29 million tons of rubble, would far exceed $80 billion.

'That piece of land that has been the focus of so much terrorism, so many attacks against us, so many trials, and so many tribulations.'

According to the president, his plan would not only mean an end to the Palestinians' "bad luck" but "will end the bloodshed and killing once and for all."

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Netanyahu was highly receptive to Trump's plan, stating that the 47th president "sees a different future for that piece of land that has been the focus of so much terrorism, so many attacks against us, so many trials, and so many tribulations. He has a different idea, and I think it's worth paying attention to this."

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's former national security minister, said on X that Trump's proposal amounts to the "only solution to the Gaza problem" and called on Netanyahu to adopt the plan "as soon as possible and to begin immediate practical progress."

Former deputy national intelligence director Beth Sanner suggested to CNN that Trump's plan may be easier said than done, as millions of Gazans might resist expulsion and international law prohibits their forceful removal.

Noting that "no Arab army is going to be carting people against their will out of their homeland," Sanner suggested that the U.S. might have to step in, which could prove to be an ordeal.

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry issued a statement following the press conference, insinuating that Trump's plan is a nonstarter and reaffirming the crown's desire to "establish a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital" and its "unequivocal rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, land annexation, or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land."

While the plan has been criticized by activists, foreign governments, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, there has been some speculation that Trump actually has a different endgame in mind when it comes to Gaza than he has let on.

BlazeTV's Jason Buttrill, chief researcher for Glenn Beck, a former U.S. Marine and intelligence analyst for the Pentagon, suggested that Trump might actually be attempting to destroy "the Arab status quo on the entire situation. He's ending the game and beginning a new one."

"The status quo is this: Hamas and the PA continue their terrorism to expel the Jews from Israel. This will never happen, and the Arabs know this," continued Buttrill. "But none of them will accept the Palestinians because they're all just a bunch of terrorists. They start coups and revolutions every time they they go to a new country."

Buttrill indicated that Trump might be working to apply pressure on neighboring Arab nations to recognize Israel's territorial claims, bid on the Gaza rebuilding project, and volunteer to house refugees in the interim.

Mike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser, told CBS News that Trump was putting "some very bold, fresh, new ideas out on the table" in an effort to "bring the entire region to come with their own solutions."

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