President Donald Trump has doubled down on his wish to have the U.S. take over Gaza in a 6 a.m. post on Truth Social.
In Trump’s post, he described how Palestinians would be relocated in “new and modern homes” elsewhere in the region.
Trump also described Jewish Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer as a Palestinian, an attack line he previously used in a Fox News interview in May, and said that he would also be resettled.
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U.S. allies and Arab states including Saudi Arabia, which Trump expects to pay for and support his vision, have already completely rejected the idea.
Forcibly relocating civilians is illegal under international law, and U.N. chief Antonio Guterres has said it would count as ethnic cleansing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been accused of war crimes relating to Israel’s actions in Gaza, said the idea was “remarkable” in a Fox News interview on Wednesday, and offered his support for the idea.
As for the practicalities of relocating millions of people who do not want to leave their homeland, Trump said this would be no problem either.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” he wrote, adding, “No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed.”
That appears to be a slight backtrack on the first time he mentioned the idea as president on Tuesday, when he said “We’ll do what is necessary,” when asked whether the U.S. planned to send troops to carry it out.
“Stability for the region would reign,” he wrote, followed by three exclamation marks.
Trump seems unfazed by the widespread mocking of the idea.
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said on his show on Wednesday, “The only thing the United Nations and the Taliban have in common is they both think this is a terrible idea.”
Trump has reportedly been thinking about the plan for quite some time, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
However, one of the first public mentions of the idea came from his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who said “Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable,” while speaking at Harvard University on 15 February 2024.
“I would just bulldoze something in the Negev,” he said, speaking of a desert region of southern Israel, and, “I would try to move people in there.”
