Trump says he wants US to take over Gaza in Netanyahu press conference
President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take "ownership" in redeveloping the area.
Trump’s brazen proposal appears certain to roil the next stage of talks meant to extend the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
The provocative comments came as talks are ramping up this week with the promise of surging humanitarian aid and reconstruction supplies to help the people of Gaza recover after more than 15 months of devastating conflict. Now Trump wants to push roughly 1.8 million people to leave the land they have called home and claim it for the U.S., perhaps with American troops.
What they're saying:
"I don’t think people should be going back," Trump said. "You can’t live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy."
Trump said the U.S. would take ownership of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and turn the territory into "the Riviera of the Middle East" in which the "world's people"— including Palestinians — would live. He offered no detail about what authority the U.S. would use to take the land and develop it.

"We’ll make sure that it’s done world class," Trump said. "It’ll be wonderful for the people — Palestinians, Palestinians mostly, we’re talking about."
Egypt, Jordan and other U.S. allies in the Mideast have cautioned Trump that relocating Palestinians from Gaza would threaten Mideast stability, risk expanding the conflict and undermine a decades-long push by the U.S. and allies for a two-state solution.
Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry issued a sharply worded reaction to Trump, noting their long call for an independent Palestinian state was a "firm, steadfast and unwavering position." Saudi Arabia has been in negotiations with the U.S. over a deal to diplomatically recognize Israel in exchange for a security pact and other terms.
"The duty of the international community today is to work to alleviate the severe human suffering endured by the Palestinian people, who will remain committed to their land and will not budge from it," the Saudi statement said.
Still, Trump insists the Palestinians "have no alternative" but to leave the "big pile of rubble" that is Gaza. He spoke out as his top aides stressed that a three-to-five-year timeline for reconstruction of the war-torn territory, as laid out in a temporary truce agreement, is not viable.

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 04: <> on February 04, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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Last week, both Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Jordanian King Abdullah II dismissed Trump's calls to resettle Gazans.
But Trump said he believes Egypt and Jordan — as well as other countries, which he did not name — will ultimately agree to take in Palestinians.
"You look over the decades, it’s all death in Gaza," Trump said. "This has been happening for years. It’s all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza."
Trump also said he isn’t ruling out deploying U.S. troops to support reconstruction of Gaza. He envisions "long-term" U.S. ownership of a redevelopment of the territory.
"We’ll do what is necessary," Trump said about the possibility of deploying American troops to fill any security vacuum.
What we don't know:
It's unclear where Trump stands.
He has been a staunch supporter of Israel, but has also pledged to end wars in the Middle East and took credit for helping to broker the ceasefire agreement. The deal has led to the release of 18 hostages as well as hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Hamas and Israel exchange more hostages for prisoners
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Hamas released three more hostages and Israel freed over 180 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday as pat of their ceasefire deal. LiveNOW's Austin Westfall discusses the latest in the Middle East with Tufts University Professor Dr. Alon Burstein.
RELATED: Israel, Hamas agree to ceasefire, hostage deal
What's next:
The White House's focus on the future of Gaza comes as the nascent truce between Israel and Hamas hangs in the balance.
Netanyahu is facing competing pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce against Hamas militants in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who want the remaining hostages home and for the 15-month conflict to end.
Trump may be betting he can persuade Egypt and Jordan to come around to accept displaced Palestinians because of the significant aid that the U.S. provides Cairo and Amman. Hard-line right-wing members of Netanyahu’s government have embraced the call to move displaced Palestinians out of Gaza.
"To me, it is unfair to explain to Palestinians that they might be back in five years," Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, told reporters. "That’s just preposterous."
Trump also signaled that he may be reconsidering an independent Palestinian state as part of a broader two-state solution to the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict.
"Well, a lot of plans change with time," he told reporters when asked if he was still committed to a plan like the one he laid out in 2020 that called for a Palestinian state. "A lot of death has occurred since I left and now came back."
The backstory:
The war began when thousands of Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Over 100 were freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023, eight have been rescued alive and dozens of bodies have been recovered by Israeli forces.
Israel's air and ground war has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities who do not say how many of the dead were fighters. The war has left large parts of several cities in ruins and displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million.
RELATED: Hamas frees 4 female Israeli soldiers in Gaza ceasefire swap for 200 prisoners
Under the ceasefire's first phase, Hamas is to release 33 hostages, eight of whom Hamas says are dead, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces have pulled back from most areas and allowed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to devastated northern Gaza while aid flows in.
Negotiations on the second phase, which would end the war and see the remaining 60 or so hostages returned, are set to begin Monday with mediators the U.S., Qatar and Egypt.
By the numbers:
Number of people killed in Israel: Around 1,200
Number of hostages taken into Gaza: 251
Number of hostages in Gaza believed to be alive: 62, including two from before Oct. 7, 2023
Number of captives in Gaza believed to be dead: 36, including two from before Oct. 7, 2023
RELATED: Jewish community mourns NY Israeli-American soldier killed in Hamas attack
Number of Palestinians killed in Gaza: Over 46,000 (This figure from the Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but the ministry says more than half of the dead were women and children.
Number of Palestinians wounded in Gaza: Over 109,000
Number of militants the Israeli military says it has killed: Over 17,000 (The military has not provided evidence to support the claim.)
Number of Israeli soldiers killed since Oct. 7, 2023: 840
Number of rockets fired at Israel from Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023: Over 10,000
The Source: The Associated Press contributed to this report. The information in this story came from official government statements, reports from international organizations, and news agencies covering the Israel-Gaza conflict and U.S. foreign policy. This story was reported from Los Angeles.