President Donald Trump once again suggested that the United States should control Gaza after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
Gaza is home to over 2.1 million people. The United Nations estimates nearly 7 in 10 of its buildings have been destroyed or damaged in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Speaking to reporters, the president called the area "a great location that nobody wants to live in."
Trump floated removing all of the Palestinians from the area to create a "freedom zone," further suggesting that "plenty of countries" are willing to take in Palestinian refugees.
“If you take the people, the Palestinians, and move them around to different countries — and you have plenty of countries that will do that — and you really have a freedom zone," he said. "You call it the freedom zone, a free zone, a zone where people aren’t going to be killed every day,”
Gaza has been an occupied territory under Israel since the end of the Six-Day War in 1967. The Palestinian Liberation Organization declared Gaza and the occupied West Bank to be the State of Palestine in 1988. In his speech, Trump wondered why Israel "gave" the seaside territory to Palestinians.
“They took oceanfront property and they gave it to people for peace. How did that work out?” he said.
Trump has repeatedly shared his vision to turn the territory into a resort-style destination. Representatives of Hamas, which serves as the government of Gaza, have resoundingly rejected any plans for relocation.
“Our people in Gaza will not allow for these plans to come to pass,” a Hamas spokesperson said in February. “What is needed is the end of the occupation and the aggression against our people, not expelling them from their land.”
Their response fell on deaf, spray-tanned ears as Trump went on to share an AI-generated video of his future Mediterranean resort.
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