President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed that the United States take control of the Gaza Strip, demolish its war-ravaged infrastructure, and rebuild the territory under long-term American administration. He presented the plan as a path to regional stability while suggesting that Palestinians should resettle elsewhere.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump said during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We’ll own it and take responsibility for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.”
"The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too." –President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/aCqLl9Gwwn
— President Donald J. Trump (@POTUS) February 5, 2025
Trump outlined a vision for flattening Gaza, clearing debris, and launching economic development to create jobs and housing. “Do a real job. Do something different. Just can’t go back,” he said. “If you go back, it’s going to end up the same way it has for 100 years.”
Netanyahu, the first world leader to meet with Trump under his second administration, praised the proposal. “He sees a different future for that piece of land that has been the focus of so much terrorism, so many attacks against us,” Netanyahu said. “I think it’s worth paying attention to this.”
Palestinian Relocation and U.S. Control
Trump said that wealthy nations in the region should fund the relocation of the 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza to other countries. He described Gaza as “a symbol of death and destruction for so many decades” and questioned why anyone would want to return.
“It should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there,” he said.
When asked if the plan contradicted a two-state solution, Trump dismissed the notion. “It doesn’t mean anything about a two-state or one-state or any other state,” he said. “We want to give people a chance at life.”
Trump also expressed openness to a U.S. military presence in Gaza. “We’re going to take over that place and develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs,” he said.
Trump suggested that long-term U.S. control of Gaza could reshape the Middle East. “I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East and maybe the entire Middle East,” he said.
Netanyahu tied Israel’s war efforts to American interests. “Israel’s victory will be America’s victory,” he said. “We will not only win the war working together, we will win the peace.”
Trump did not detail how the plan would be implemented or whether it had international support.
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