Trump wants US to own Gaza, could let Middle East states help rebuild
World
"We’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back,” Trump said
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he is committed to buying and owning Gaza, but could allow sections of the war-ravaged land to be rebuilt by other states in the Middle East.
“I'm committed to buying and owning Gaza. 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, through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back.”
Trump made his remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to New Orleans to attend the National Football League Super Bowl championship.
"There’s nothing to move back into. The place is a demolition site. The remainder will be demolished. Everything’s demolished,” he said.
Trump also said he was open to the possibility of allowing some Palestinian refugees into the United States, but would consider such requests on a case-by-case basis.
Ezzat El Rashq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, condemned Trump's latest remarks on buying and owning Gaza, the group said in a statement.
"Gaza is not a property to be sold and bought. It is an integral part of our occupied Palestinian land," and Palestinians will foil displacement plans, Rashq added.
Trump has spoken of permanently displacing Palestinians who live in Gaza and would create a "Riviera of the Middle East."
Trump last week floated the idea of the United States taking over Gaza and engaging in a massive rebuilding effort.
His statement was vague on the future of Palestinians who had endured over a year of bombardment by Israel in response to an October 2023 attack by Hamas.
It was unclear under what authority the United States would take claim of Gaza. Trump's announcement drew immediate rebukes from several nations.
‘Losing patience with ceasefire deal’
President Trump said he was losing patience with the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas after seeing footage of the Palestinian militant group release Israeli hostages over the weekend, whose appearance he compared to Holocaust survivors.
Trump's reaction to seeing images of the three hostages, who appeared gaunt upon their release on Saturday, brought fresh uncertainty over the deal's fate before all remaining 76 hostages are freed and came days after the president called for the removal of Palestinians from the enclave and for the US to take control of it.
"They look like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated," Trump told reporters. "I don't know how much longer we can take that ... at some point we're going to lose our patience."
"I know we have a deal ... they dribble in and keep dribbling in ... but they are in really bad shape," Trump said of the Israeli hostages.
Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, who were taken hostage from Kibbutz Be'eri during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and Or Levy, who was abducted that day from the Nova music festival, were led onto a Hamas podium by gunmen on Saturday ahead of their release to Israeli authorities.
The three men appeared in worse condition than the 18 other hostages previously freed under the truce, which was agreed to on January 15 months into the war. Many Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel have also appeared thin and emaciated.
