US President Donald Trump’s administration appeared to backtrack Wednesday after his proposal to take over Gaza sparked uproar, with the United Nations warning against “ethnic cleansing” in the Palestinian territory.
Facing a wave of criticism from Palestinians, Arab governments and world leaders, Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any transfer of Gazans would be temporary, while the White House said there was no commitment to sending US troops.
Trump, however, insisted “everybody loves” the plan, which he announced to audible gasps during a White House press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Offering few details on how the United States could remove more than two million Palestinians or control the war-battered territory, Trump declared Tuesday: “The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it.” Rubio said the idea “was not meant as hostile,” describing it as a “generous move — the offer to rebuild and to be in charge of the rebuilding.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later said Washington would not fund Gaza’s reconstruction after more than 15 months of war between US ally Israel and Palestinian group Hamas. US involvement “does not mean boots on the ground” or that “American taxpayers will be funding this effort,” Leavitt said. The United Nations warned against ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
“At its essence, the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people is about the right of Palestinians to simply live as human beings in their own land,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a speech to a UN committee that deals with the rights of Palestinians.
Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric, previewing the UN chief’s speech, told reporters: “Any forced displacement of people is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.” Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt said any forced displacement of the Palestinians would be unacceptable.
“It would be a serious violation of international law, an obstacle to the two-state solution and a major destabilising force for Egypt and Jordan,” the two leaders said. Palestinian officials, Arab leaders and rights groups swiftly condemned Trump’s remarks. Hamas, which took control of Gaza in 2007, rejected the proposal, branding it “racist”, “aggressive” and inflammatory.
Leavitt said Trump wanted Palestinians to be only “temporarily relocated” out of Gaza. “It’s a demolition site right now. It’s not a liveable place for any human being,” she said. Israel’s military offensive in response to Hamas’s October 2023 attack has left much of Gaza in ruins, including schools, hospitals and most civil infrastructure. Rights group Human Rights Watch said the destruction of Gaza “reflects a calculated Israeli policy to make parts of the strip unlivable.”
Trump’s proposed plan “would move the US from being complicit in war crimes to direct perpetration of atrocities,” said Lama Fakih, an HRW regional director.
