US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was not deploying American troops to support the reconstruction of Gaza and that he is considering the “long -term” American property of a regional redevelopment.
“We will do what is necessary,” said Trump about the possibility of deploying troops to fill any safe vacuum. “If necessary, we will.”
The comments occurred after Trump said he wanted the United States to take ownership of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after the Palestinians are reinstalled elsewhere.
“We have it and will be responsible for dismantling all dangerous unplodced bombs and other weapons on the site,” said Trump of a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump added that the United States would have the level of buildings destroyed and “create economic development which will provide an unlimited number of jobs and housing for the inhabitants of the region”.
The comments came after Trump suggested earlier that the Palestinians moved to Gaza were “permanent” resettled outside the territory torn by the war.
“I don’t think people should go back,” Trump told journalists at the start of his meeting with Netanyahu in the oval office. “You can’t live in Gaza for the moment. I think we need another location. I think it should be a place that will make people happy. »»
The president’s lightest argument to date for the mass resettlement of Gaza intervenes in an increasing uncertainty that the cease-fire and temporary hostage agreement concluded last month between Israel and Hamas can reach a second even more delicate step.
Egypt, Jordan and other American allies of the Middle East warned Trump that the move of more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza would threaten the stability of the Middle East, risks extending the conflict and undergoing a push Several decades by the United States and allies for a solution to two states.
However, Trump insists that the Palestinians “have no alternative” only to leave the “large heap of rubble” which is Gaza. He spoke when his best employees stressed that a calendar of three to five years for the reconstruction of the territory torn by the war, as in a temporary truce agreement, is not viable.
Last week, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi and Jordanian King Abdullah II rejected Trump’s calls to reinstall the Gazans.
However, Trump, with Netanyahu by his side, said he believed that Egypt and Jordan – as well as other countries he did not name – will finally accept to take the Palestinians.
“You look at the decades, everything is death in Gaza,” said Trump. “This has been happening for years. It’s all death. If we can get a beautiful region to reinstall people, permanently, in beautiful houses where they can be happy and not be slaughtered and not be killed and not be cut to death like what is happening in Gaza. “”
The focus put by the White House on the future of more than 2 million residents of Gaza occurs while the emerging truce between Israel and Hamas is at stake.
Netanyahu faces competing pressures from his right coalition to end a temporary truce against Hamas activists in Gaza and War Israelis who want the remaining hostages at home and for the 15 -month conflict.
The leaders said their talks would cover a normalization agreement in Arabia Israel-Sudi for a long time and shared concerns about the Iran’s nuclear program, as well as the second phase of the agreement with hostage.
Get daily national news
Get the best news of the day, the titles of political, economic and current affairs, delivered in your reception box once a day.
Trump continues to put pressure to move the Palestinians from Gaza, even after the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sissi and Jordanian King Abdullah II have publicly returned the idea.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Palestinian Authority and the Arab League also joined Egypt and Jordan to reject plans to get the Palestinians out of their territories in Gaza and occupied West Bank.
However, Trump can bet that he can persuade Egypt and Jordan to come and accept the displaced Palestinians due to the important aid that the United States provides Cairo and Amman. Netanyahu’s right -wing members of the right -wing government adopted the call to move the displaced Palestinians from Gaza.
“For me, it is unfair to explain to the Palestinians that they could be back in five years,” Trump’s Middle East said Steve Witkoff, to journalists. “It’s just absurd.”
Trump also reported that he could reconsider an independent Palestinian state as part of a broader solution to two states with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for several decades. “Well, many plans change over time,” he told journalists when he was asked if he was still engaged in a plan like the one he presented in 2020 who called for a state Palestinian.
“Many deaths have occurred since my departure and returned now,” said Trump. “Now we are faced with a different situation – in some ways better and in certain respects worse. But we are faced with a very complex and difficult situation that we will resolve. »»
The arrival of Netanyahu in Washington for the first visit of foreign leader to the second term of Trump intervenes while the popular support of the Prime Minister is lagging behind.
The Prime Minister is in the middle of the week of testimonies in a trial under corruption which focuses on the allegations he has exchanged with media magnates and rich associates. He criticized the accusations and said he was the victim of a “witch hunt”.
Being seen with Trump, who is popular in Israel, could help distract the public from the trial and increase Netanyahu’s position.
“We have the right leader of Israel who did an excellent job,” said Trump about Netanyahu.
Netanyahu also praised Trump’s leadership in obtaining the hostage and cease-fire contract. “I’m just going to tell you that I am happy that they are here,” Netanyahu said about Trump and his administration.
This is Netanyahu’s first trip outside Israel since the International Criminal Court published arrest warrants in November for him, his former defense minister and the military chief killed Hamas, accusing them of crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza. The United States does not recognize the authority of the ICC on its citizens or its territory.
Netanyahu met the National House of Blanche, Mike Waltz and Witkoff’s national security advisor on Monday, to start the intimidating work of negotiating the next phase of a cease-fire agreement.
Netanyahu said in a statement that the meeting with Witkoff and Waltz was “positive and friendly”.
The Israeli chief said that he would send a delegation to Qatar to continue indirect talks with Hamas who are publicized by the Gulf Arab country, the first confirmation that these negotiations would continue. Netanyahu also said that he would summon his security firm to discuss Israel’s requests for the next cease-fire phase when he returned to Israel at the end of the week.
Witkoff, on the other hand, said that he was planning to meet the Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Florida on Thursday to discuss the next ceasefire phase. Qatar and Egypt have served as key intermediaries with Hamas throughout the conflict.
Netanyahu undergoes intense pressure from the hard members to the right of his power coalition to abandon the ceasefire and take the fighting in Gaza to eliminate Hamas. Bezalel Smotrich, one of Netanyahu’s main partners, promises to overthrow the government if the war is not relaunched, a stage that could lead to early elections.
Hamas, which has reaffirmed control over Gaza since the start of the ceasefire last month, said that it would not release hostages in the second endless phase to war and the withdrawal of Israeli forces. Netanyahu, meanwhile, argues that Israel is attached to victory over Hamas and the return of all the hostages captured during the attack on October 7, 2023 which sparked the war.
Einav Zangauker, whose matan son is among the hostages, called Trump to use an American lever effect to keep Netanyahu attached to the agreement.
Matan, 24, is one of those who should be included in the second phase of the agreement, when all remaining living hostages – including men under 50 and male soldiers – must be exchanged for a determined number Palestinian prisoners. The second phase should also include the total withdrawal of Israeli Gaza troops.
“I want President Trump to know that there are certain extreme elements of Israel who are trying to torpedo his vision,” said Zangauker, who went to Washington from Israel to join a planned Tuesday rally Outside the White House. “We are representative of the large and vast majority of Israel. The ultra-extractists make the Prime Minister sing to make their auctions. »»
The Prime Minister should also use Press Trump’s visit to take decisive measures on Iran. Tehran faced a series of military setbacks, including the Israeli forces considerably degrading Hamas in the militants of Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as an operation which decimated the air defenses of Iran. The moment, according to Netanyahu, created a window to decisively tackle the Tehran nuclear program.
Before his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump signed a decree which, according to him, would increase the economic pressure on Iran.
“We are not going to allow them to have a nuclear weapon,” said Trump.
Goldenberg reported to Tel Aviv, Israel. The writer Associated Press, Melanie Lidman, in Jerusalem, contributed the reports.
