In a bombshell announcement setting the cat among the pigeons, US President Donald Trump said that the United States will take over the Gaza Strip, dismantle dangerous weapons, get rid of the destroyed buildings and work for economic development of the area.
Trump, while addressing a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also affirmed that the ongoing ceasefire-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas will be the beginning of a larger and more enduring peace.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site and getting rid of the destroyed buildings. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” Trump said at the press conference.
“I’m hopeful that this ceasefire could be the beginning of a larger and more enduring peace that will end the bloodshed and killing once and for all. With the same goal in mind, my administration has been moving quickly to restore trust in the alliance and rebuild American strength throughout the region,” he added.
The US President also announced America’s departure from the “anti-semitic” UN Human Rights Council and the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which drew a lot of flak over the allegations of links with Hamas.
He added that the US will enforce the “most aggressive possible sanctions” against Iran to drive its oil exports to zero, and diminish its capacity to “fund terror”.
“I’m also pleased to announce that this afternoon the United States withdrew from the anti-semitic UN Human Rights Council and ended all of the support for the UN Relief and Works Agency, which funnelled money to Hamas and which was very disloyal to humanity. Today I also took action to restore our maximum pressure policy on the Iranian regime. And we will once again enforce the most aggressive possible sanctions, drive Iranian oil exports to zero, and diminish the regime’s capacity to fund terror throughout the region and the world,” Trump further said.
Earlier in the day, Trump suggested that he envisions a future in Gaza that largely does not involve Palestinians. He also stressed on bringing “great stability” to the Middle East, adding that “everyone loves” the idea of US owning “that piece of land”, referring to the Gaza Strip.
“I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza,” Trump said in the Oval Office as quoted by CNN. “I heard that Gaza has been very unlucky for them. They live like hell. They live like they’re living in hell. 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.”
“I do see a long-term ownership position, and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East, and maybe the entire Middle East,” Trump told reporters in the East Room of the White House. He said later: “This was not a decision made lightly.
Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent.”
Netanyahu, who is the first foreign leader to visit the US after Trump’s return to the White House, held a meeting with the US President on Tuesday (local time).
Notably, US President Trump has been making similar assertions regarding the Gaza Strip in the past.
Last month, he suggested ‘cleaning up’ of the whole Strip and expressed the idea of moving Palestinians from the strip to some neighbouring countries.
Trump said he asked Jordan’s Abdullah II, a key US partner in the region, to take in more Palestinians in a Saturday phone call. Trump said he would like both Jordan and Egypt – which borders Gaza – to house Palestinian people. (ANI)
