President Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed claims he would buy Gaza after announcing last week that the United States should “own” the Palestinian enclave.
“There is nothing to buy,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “It’s Gaza. It’s a war-torn area. We’re going to take it, we’re going to hold it, we’re going to cherish it, we’re going to get it going eventually, where a lot of jobs are going to be created for the people in the Middle East. It’s going to be for the people in the Middle East. But I think it could be a diamond.”
When asked on what authority the U.S. will “take” Gaza, Trump replied: “U.S. authority.”
Trump and the White House have been pressed on whether the president intends to deploy U.S. troops to Gaza as part of the “owning” process and how much money taxpayers will pay for his new policy in the region.
But on Tuesday, Trump did underscore that it was not his intention to open a Trump-branded hotel in Gaza, which he described as a “death trap.”
Trump made the comments in the Oval Office before his high-stakes meeting with King Abdullah II bin al Hussein of Jordan. Trump has implored Arab countries, including Egypt and Jordan, to accept more Palestinian refugees as he repeats that Gaza residents could be permanently displaced, though has not specified how that will happen if they do not want to relocate.
“We don’t think that’s gonna happen,” Trump said on Tuesday on whether Palestinians would want to return to Gaza. “We think people are gonna be very happy, thrilled.”
Before Trump’s meeting with Abdullah, the president seemed to rescind his earlier suggestion that he could repeal foreign aid to Jordan. Under President Joe Biden in 2022, the State Department signed a new deal to give Jordan $1.45 billion per year through 2029.
“We contribute a lot of money to Jordan and to Egypt,” he said. “But I don’t have to threaten that, I don’t think. I think we’re above that.”
Abdullah declined to directly answer questions about Trump’s plans for Gaza, preferring to wait for Egypt and other Arab leaders to weigh in on the proposal. Instead, the king committed to taking 2,000 sick Palestinian children for treatment within his country, indicating other nations, even the European Union, were interested in doing something similar.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is expected at the White House next Tuesday, with Sisi organizing an emergency summit for Arab leaders on Feb. 27.
The Trump-Abdullah meeting also coincides with the president’s new deadline for Hamas to release all of its hostages by noon on Saturday or “all bets are off and let hell break out” amid the terrorist organization’s ceasefire agreement with Israel. Trump announced the deadline on Monday night.
Trump announced his desire to “own” Gaza alongside Netanyahu last week during a press conference at the White House.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Trump’s new terms in a video statement on Tuesday, saying “the [Israel Defense Forces] will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated.”
“I envision the world’s people living there,” he said. “The Riviera of the Middle East.”
