President Donald Trump stated that Palestinians in Gaza had “no alternative” but to flee their homes during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
“The whole thing is a mess,” Trump remarked of Gaza, a region devastated by the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“I don’t believe that anyone should return to Gaza. Gaza has, in my opinion, been quite unlucky for them. They have experienced what it’s like to live in hell, just like you do. There is no place for people to live in Gaza. They have no other option, which is the only reason they wish to return, in my opinion. What other options are there? Where do you go? They would far prefer live in a lovely, safe alternative than return to Gaza if they had one,” he said.
Trump had earlier in the day described Gaza as a “demolition site” and said that its residents would be “thrilled” to relocate.
“How they might desire to stay is beyond me. Go to a new piece of land “would be a lot better than going back to Gaza, which has had decades and decades of death,” he added, adding that the property is a demolition site.
“I don’t think so,” Trump responded when asked if that would entail evicting people by force. They don’t now have any other option, in my opinion, even if they had the chance. They have no other choice, thus they are there. What do they possess? There is currently a large pile of debris. Who is capable of such a life?
He stated, “I think they’d be thrilled to do it,” but added that at the moment, “they don’t have an option.”
The countries and others in the region have already rejected Trump’s suggestion that the Palestinians would be better off relocating to nearby Egypt or Jordan. He stated of the Palestinians, “I think they should get a good, fresh, beautiful piece of land.” The Gaza initiative has failed.
Trump’s comments were denounced by Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, who said, “We consider it a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region.” “Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass,” he stated, adding that what is needed is to stop the violence and occupation of our people rather than to force them off their land.
Trump is meeting with Netanyahu for the first time since he began his second term in office.
Trump told reporters, “I’m here to listen, and he’s here to see me.”
Trump described the White House gathering as a “very big meeting” during his remarks to reporters on Sunday. He said, “I look forward to discussing how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors and efforts to counter our shared adversaries,” in his letter inviting Netanyahu to Washington last week.
Netanyahu stated on Sunday that they would address “the critical issues that lie ahead of us defeating Hamas, returning all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian axis in all its components, an axis that also threatens Israel s security, the Middle East and the entire world.”
The two were scheduled to make a joint press conference after their meeting, which took place just after 4 p.m. ET.
The Biden administration secured a ceasefire and hostage-release arrangement between Israel and the militant organization Hamas with the assistance of Trump’s transition team. The two leaders are due to talk about the next stage of the accord on Tuesday.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. This marked the start of the battle. According to local officials, Israel killed about 47,000 people in its retaliatory air and land attack on Gaza, the majority of whom were civilians. The number of displaced Palestinians is in the hundreds of thousands.
Netanyahu has defended his actions, most notably while traveling to Washington, despite widespread condemnation of the Israeli counteroffensive’s magnitude.
“The Middle East has already altered as a result of the choices we took during the conflict and the valor displayed by the IDF soldiers. It has been completely altered by them. “I believe we can make even more positive changes if we work hard with President Trump,” Netanyahu stated.
In an attempt to purge Gaza, Trump has stated that he wanted Jordan and Egypt to take in more Palestinian refugees.
Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told reporters prior to the meeting that the president was talking about making the region “habitable.” Additionally, he called the five-year plan to rehabilitate Gaza in a later phase of the ceasefire agreement “preposterous” and unachievable. Reconstruction might take up to 15 years, according to national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Witkoff went on to say, “There are 30,000 unexploded munitions” in Gaza. “The buildings have the potential to collapse at any time. There are absolutely no utilities available there, including gas, electricity, and running water. Who knows what kind of illness could be brewing there?
During Trump’s first year in power, Netanyahu and Trump were strong allies. However, their relationship soured when Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden for winning the 2020 election while Trump was still contesting the results.
Trump told a gathering at a campaign event a few days after the Oct. 7 incident that Netanyahu had failed us during his first term, claiming that he had not been helpful prior to the US killing a senior Iranian general. Following backlash from his Republican opponents, Trump used Netanyahu’s nickname to post on social media with the hashtags #IStandWithIsrael and #IStandWithBibi.
When Netanyahu paid Trump a visit at his Florida home in July following meetings with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and following an unsuccessful attempt on Trump’s life, their relationship seemed to have been restored.
Netanyahu stated on Sunday that the “fact that this will be [Trump’s] first meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration has great significance for the state of Israel” as it “testifies to the strength of the alliance between Israel and the United States.”
Netanyahu’s visit to the White House is by no means his first.
Blair House, the White House’s historic official guest residence, welcomed Netanyahu on Monday. According to the director of the residence, Netanyahu has visited the mansion 14 times, which is far more than any other foreign leader has done since it was constructed in the 19th century.