Trump’s plan for US to take over Gaza and make it ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ sparks outrage: Live
President Donald Trump has sent shockwaves around the world by saying the US will “take over” Gaza and “own” the territory during a White House press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu that left even the Israeli Prime Minister surprised.
Trump added that Palestinians could be resettled away from their homes in the war-torn enclave and into “areas where the leaders currently say no”, leaving the land free to become “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
Speaking to reporters, the president declared: “Instead of having to go back and do it again, the US will take over the Gaza Strip.
“We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.”
He added: “I do see a long-term ownership position, and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East.”
Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt have already rejected Trump’s proposal while the Palestinian ambassador to the UN said “our homeland is our homeland”.
Gaza has suffered huge destruction in the 15-month conflict between Israel and Hamas, with more than 47,000 people killed.
Watch: Netanyahu praises Trump’s idea for US takeover of Gaza
“He has a different idea,” said Bibi at the White House yesterday.
“And I think it is worth paying attention to this. We’re talking about it. He’s exploring it with his people, with his staff.”
Recap: Trump wants US to take over Gaza and doesn’t rule out using military
Good morning!
President Donald Trump has sent shockwaves around the world by saying the US will “take over” Gaza and “own” the territory during a White House press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu that left even the Israeli Prime Minister surprised.
Trump added that Palestinians could be resettled away from their homes in the war-torn enclave and into “areas where the leaders currently say no”, leaving the land free to become “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
Speaking to reporters, the president declared: “Instead of having to go back and do it again, the US will take over the Gaza Strip.
“We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.”
He added: “I do see a long-term ownership position, and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East.”
Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt have already rejected Trump’s proposal while the Palestinian ambassador to the UN said “our homeland is our homeland”.
Gaza has suffered huge destruction in the 15-month conflict between Israel and Hamas, with more than 47,000 people killed.
Here’s Andrew Feinberg with a full report.
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Richard Hall writes:
The emails began arriving soon after Inauguration Day, and the intention was clear.
Jason Gray, an acting administrator installed by Donald Trump atop the U.S. Agency for International Development, delivered a flurry of orders to staff in late January aimed at radically overhauling the agency in the president’s image.
“We were inundated with a barrage of hostile, threatening messages,” one staffer told The Independent. “I think they were designed to instill fear.”
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UK minister: ‘Palestinians should be able to return home’
A member of Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet has hit back at Donald Trump’s suggestion Gaza should be turned into “the Riviera of the Middle East”, arguing Palestinians “need to be able to return to their homes”.
In a rebuke to the US president’s suggestion, environment secretary Steve Reed backed a two-state solution to the conflict and said Israel should exist alongside “a free and viable Palestinian state”.
“Palestinian civilians have been through a living nightmare for the last 14 months, they need to be able to return to their homes and start to rebuild them,” Mr Reed told Sky News.
He was the first member of the British government to respond to Mr Trump’s proposals, and denied being disparaging about the president.
“I think we should give Donald Trump credit for the role he played in securing the ceasefire in the first place, but it is the view of the UK government that Palestinians should be able to return to their homes,” he added.
Australian PM reiterates support for a two-state solution
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters that his country has long supported a two-state solution in the Middle East and that nothing had changed.
“Australia’s position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year, as it was 10 years ago,” he said.
Mr Trump has already made waves – and upset long-time allies – suggesting the purchase of Greenland, the annexation of Canada and the possible takeover of the Panama Canal.
Mr Albanese, whose country is one of the strongest American allies in the Asia-Pacific region, seemed frustrated to even be asked about the Gaza plan, underscoring that his policies “will be consistent”.
“I’m not going to, as Australia’s prime minister, give a daily commentary on statements by the US president,” he said. “My job is to support Australia’s position.”

Trump’s suggestion of Gaza ‘take over’ rejected by allies and adversaries
President Donald Trump’s proposal that the U.S. “take over” the Gaza Strip and permanently resettle its Palestinian residents was swiftly rejected and denounced on Wednesday by American allies and adversaries alike.
Egypt, Jordan and other American allies in the Middle East have already rejected the idea of relocating more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza elsewhere in the region.
Saudi Arabia, an important American ally, weighed in quickly on Mr Trump’s expanded idea to take over the Gaza Strip in a sharply worded statement, noting that its long call for an independent Palestinian state was a “firm, steadfast and unwavering position”.
“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia also stresses what it had previously announced regarding its absolute rejection of infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, annexation of Palestinian lands or efforts to displace the Palestinian people from their land,” the statement said.
Hamas, which sparked the war with its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, said Mr Trump’s proposal was a “recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region”.
“Instead of holding the Zionist occupation accountable for the crime of genocide and displacement, it is being rewarded, not punished,” the militant group said in a statement.
Why Trump’s proposal on Gaza is ringing alarm bells in the region
Trump’s plans are likely to heighten fears among Palestinians in Gaza, which had a pre-war population of around 2.3 million, of being driven out of the coastal strip, and stoke concern in Arab states that have long worried about the destabilising impact of any such exodus.
What is behind these concerns?
Palestinians have long been haunted by what they call the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, when 700,000 of them were dispossessed from their homes during the war that surrounded the creation of Israel in 1948.
Many were driven out or fled to neighbouring Arab states, including to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, where many of them and their descendants still live in refugee camps. Some went to Gaza. Israel disputes the account that they were forced out.

The latest conflict, currently paused amid a fragile ceasefire agreement, has seen an unprecedented Israeli bombardment and land offensive in Gaza, devastating urban areas.
Most Gazans have been displaced several times during Israel’s offensive, launched after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 47,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to Palestinian health officials.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Wednesday Trump’s remarks about taking over Gaza are ‘ridiculous’ and ‘absurd’ and could ignite the region.
ANALYSIS: Tulsi Gabbard made a career out of ‘just asking questions.’ Now she will have to answer them
Richard Hall writes:
Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman turned MAGA conspiracy theorist, is set to be confirmed as director of National Intelligence after overcoming a key hurdle on Tuesday.
If Gabbard is confirmed by a full Senate vote, as expected, she will oversee 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, acting as principal adviser to President Donald Trump on America’s secrets and national security.
Her appointment will mark the conclusion of a remarkable journey from a quixotic outsider who regularly found common cause with dictators and tyrants against her own country’s intelligence agencies to the ultimate insider.
If there is such thing as a Deep State, Gabbard will sit atop it.
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Source: independent.co.uk