Trump repeats claims, says Israel ‘will hand over’ Gaza to U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump doubles down on his controversial plan for relocating Palestinians in Gaza after the war ends in the Palestinian territory.
IRNA – U.S. President Donald Trump remains adamant over his shock plan to relocate residents of the Gaza Strip, saying the United States will take over the Palestinian territory from Israel after the war ends.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” Trump said on Thursday in a post on Truth Social media platform.
He also said in his post that Gaza residents could be “resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region,” and that “no soldiers by the U.S. would be needed” in the Palestinian enclave.
The U.S. president already caused international outcry after he unveiled his plan for Gaza during a news conference with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Tuesday.
Trump said that the U.S. would take over and own Gaza after almost 2.2 million Palestinians were transferred outside of the territory. That sparked anger across the West Asia region and elsewhere, with human rights groups saying that the plan could amount to ethnic cleansing.
On Thursday, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qasim called Trump’s proposal totally unacceptable, insisting that the Palestinians in Gaza will never leave their land and will not allow one occupier to be replaced with another.
“We do not need any country for administering the Gaza Strip, and will not accept that an occupier is replaced with another one,” he told The New Arab news outlet.
