At a White House press conference on Tuesday where he was joined by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump called for the Palestinians to resettle to a “beautiful area.”
Responding to a reporter’s shouted question about the resettlement of Palestinians in the West Bank, Trump reiterated that he wanted them out of the Gaza Strip, and said he believed residents of the region would concur with his assessment.
“I think they’ll be settled in areas where they can live a beautiful life and not be worried about dying every day,” Trump said. “Gaza is not a place for people to be living, and the only reason they want to go back — and I believe this strongly — is because they have no alternative. It’s too dangerous for people. … Warriors don’t want to be there. Soldiers don’t want to be there. How can you have people go back? You’re saying go back into Gaza now? The same thing’s going to happen. It’ll only be death.”
Israel invaded the region in response to terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. The invasion resulted in the displacement of around 1.58 million people in the Gaza Strip, and more than 900,000 people to its north in the West Bank. Trump has said numerous times that he wants to move Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan, but both countries have objected. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi said last week that any move would be a “displacement” and an “injustice.”
Trump said Tuesday he expected the U.S. to have a “long-term ownership position” in the Gaza Strip, adding, “It would be my hope that we could do something really nice, really good, where they wouldn’t want to return. Why would they want to return? The place has been hell. You take certain areas and you build really good quality housing, like a beautiful town, like some place where they can live and not die, because Gaza is a guarantee that they’re going to end up dying.”
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Trump’s visit with Netanyahu was the president’s first visit with a foreign leader since his inauguration last month.
Hamas is still holding 20 hostages taken during the attacks on Oct. 7. Israeli and Hamas negotiators were scheduled to meet in Qatar on Monday to discuss a “second phase” to a deal that involved releasing the hostages in exchange for Israeli forces withdrawing from Palestinian territory. However, Israeli officials announced over the weekend that they were postponing the negotiations until Netanyahu finished his meeting with Trump.
You can watch Trump’s press conference with Netanyahu above.