In the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict, President Donald Trump declared alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States had “own” the Gaza Strip.
The United States will retake control of the Gaza Strip and do a lot of work with it, also. We’ll possess it, Trump declared at his first shared press conference with a international official during his second-term at the White House.
After the causality-heavy war that broke out after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, Trump called Gaza a symbol of suicide and “destruction” and proposed that Palestinians been relocated to nearby Arab states despite objections.  ,
Trump said,” We’ll do what is necessary,” and he questioned whether U.S. troops would be required to aid in the creation of the” Riviera of the Middle East” in the 140-square-mile Palestinian territory. Trump, yet, didn’t provide specifics on how the U. S. may appear to own the Hamas-controlled place.
Trump’s statement of U.S. rise into the Middle East came after the 47th senator also stated he wants to take control the Panama Canal and Greenland for corporate security and economic reasons, despite Trump representatives ‘ previous references to Gaza as a “demolition site.”
Trump said he didn’t make the decision “lightly”, but he views U. S. “long-term rights” as important to security and peace in the Middle East, on top of reportedly improving the lives of the Arab citizens.
Because the Gaza Strip has been a hell opening for people living it, he claimed,” They have never had a chance at life.” ” It’s been terrible. Hamas has made it so awful, but terrible, so dangerous, so cruel to citizens”.
Following Trump’s advice last week that neighboring Egypt and Jordan give refuge to the migrants throughout the reconstruction process, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s specific minister to the Middle East, and other top Trump administration officials earlier in the day advocated for resettling Palestinians in another Arab nations.
But, officials from Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the Muslim League released a statement condemning Trump’s proposed settlement of Palestinians as forced “evictions” that they would not permit “in any shape or under any circumstances or reasons”.
Netanyahu himself gave his blessing to Trump’s announcement, claiming that it would ensure” that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel”.
” President Trump is taking it to a much higher level. He sees a different future for that piece of land that has been the focus of so much terrorism, so many attacks against us, so many, so many trials and so many tribulations”, the Israeli Prime Minister stated. ” He has a different idea, and I think it’s worth paying attention to this”.
However, partisans on both sides of the aisle disagreed with Trump’s proposal, citing the fact that the United States has already provided humanitarian aid to Israel and the Palestinian people, respectively, in addition to the security and humanitarian aid.
One veteran GOP official claimed that “any U.S. occupation of the Gaza Strip will be much worse than Afghanistan and Iraq,” despite being a source of truth.
” This coming from the ‘ anti-war president,'” that person continued. ” What is Steve Bannon saying”?
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) called the idea of a U. S. occupation” a bad, sick joke” and claimed that the president has” totally lost it”.
He wrote on X:” A U.S. invasion of Gaza would result in the slaughter of thousands of American soldiers and decades of war in the Middle East.”
Netanyahu’s working visit to the White House on Tuesday marked the conclusion of the press conference’s discussion of the Gaza war’s resolution.
Hamas killed more than 1, 200 people in the attacks on October 7, and Gaza saw significantly more casualties and destruction, with some estimates putting the death toll at around 60, 000. Both sides of the war have experienced significant death tolls. Since Election Night, Wittkoff has traveled to Israel and Gaza in greater numbers, and he has estimated that the cleanup and reconstruction project will take 10 to 15 years, as opposed to the five years that the current ceasefire agreement has foretold.
Earlier, Trump and Netanyahu briefly spoke to reporters in the Oval Office following Netanyahu’s arrival. Netanyahu threw a sharp dig at former President Joe Biden, saying that Trump deserves credit for brokering the January ceasefire deal, while the president tripled down on remarks he made earlier in the day about resettling Palestinians in other Arab nations.
” We are dealing with a lot of people, and we have steps to go yet, as you know, and maybe those steps go forward, and maybe they don’t”, Trump said of the ceasefire proceedings. ” We have the right leader of Israel. He’s done a great job”.
” We’re going to try”, Netanyahu added. ” That’s one of the things we’re talking about”.
In addition to Israel’s withdrawal from most of Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid, phase one of the ceasefire agreement, which was brokered by the Biden administration, is scheduled to expire on February 18. The release of younger Israeli hostages and Israel’s commitment to end the war are supposed to be the second steps.
The third phase would mark the end of the war, with bodies being exchanged, Israel withdrawing from Gaza entirely, and the reconstruction of the enclave starting.
Witkoff, and national security adviser, Mike Waltz, spoke to reporters Tuesday afternoon before Netanyahu’s arrival, where they were adamant that ceasefire negotiations were weeks into the second phase.  ,
Before opening the door to altering the schedule outlined in the Biden administration’s mediation, Witkoff declared,” We’re in Day 17 of phase two.” Trump’s own earlier statements, crediting his dispatch of Witkoff to the Middle East following the 2024 election for speeding up negotiations between Israel and Hamas, were disregarded by Witkoff’s comments.
” Part of the issue is that it wasn’t such a wonderful agreement that was first signed that wasn’t dictated by the Trump administration. We had nothing to do with it”, he continued.
” There’s a lot of opportunity in the region, and mostly there is real optimism”, Waltz added. ” I think we’re on the precipice. The Abraham Accords ‘ upcoming round was discussed. That’s the goal”.
The White House referred to Gaza as a “demolition site” before the meeting, saying that reconstruction of the enclave would take more than ten years.
The White House told the Washington Examiner that the president’s top priority is ensuring the return of hostages held by Hamas and that the terrorist organization” cannot continue to govern and is out of power” when pressed about Trump’s support for a two-state solution and his proposal to resettle Palestinians in Egypt and Jordan.
According to a senior administration official,” I think President Trump views the Gaza Strip and sees it as a demolition site, sees it as impossible to rebuild it in three to five years, believes it will take at least 10 to 15 people to live in an uninhabitable plot of land with unexploded ordnance and rubble,” regarding the relocation.
Trump also “is trying to look at this in a realistic way and is looking for solutions to help the people of Gaza have normal lives while the Gaza Strip is ultimately being rebuilt” according to the official.
Hours before Netanyahu’s arrival, a group of protesters, including former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky and Einav Zangauker, the mother of Matan Zangauker who remains in Hamas’s captivity, demonstrated outside the White House. The protesters chanted the names of the hostages and demanded that Trump “bring them home now” in order to demand the immediate release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.
Cheryl Silver, a Washington, D. C., resident who attended the protest, told the Washington Examiner that she believes Trump “is determined to have a peace in Gaza” but said she “personally]didn’t ] know” if Netanyahu could be trusted to continue moving toward peace.
Michael Jungreis, who traveled from Philadelphia to attend Tuesday’s event, gave a more dour assessment of Netanyahu’s role in ending the war.
Netanyahu is essentially selling Israelis ‘ lives to keep his coalition alive, he claimed in an interview. ” It’s an unprecedented crime in Israeli history, and it’s all eventually to prevent his criminal trial”.
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Trump and Netanyahu had sat down on Tuesday afternoon before the two leaders had an expanded bilateral meeting and planned a White House dinner before the event.
The two men have a strong relationship that has grown out of the choices Trump made during his first administration, including moving the U.S. Embassy there in 2018 and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The president, too, acknowledged Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and negotiated the Abraham Accords.
