The US will take over the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future, President Donald Trump announced Monday evening during a shocking joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following their hour-long Oval Office meeting on Tuesday.
He said by taking over Gaza the US will create economic development that will supply an "unlimited number of jobs and housing for the people of the area."
Trump said he sees taking over Gaza as a way to bring stability not only to Israel's neighbors but potentially the entire Middle East.
According to Trump, everyone he's spoken to "loves the idea of the United States" owning Gaza, developing the land, and creating thousands of jobs.
Trump said he's "studied this very closely" and seen it from every angle.
"We're going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it will be something that the entire Middle East could be very proud of," Trump said of Gaza.
"But everybody feels that continuing the same process has gone on forever, over and over again, and then it starts, and then the killing starts, and all of the other problems start, and you end up in the same place. And we don't want to see that happen."
Trump called the Gaza Strip a symbol of "death and destruction" and "so bad" for the people anywhere near it, "and especially those who live there."
"It has been an unlucky place for a long time," he said of the strip. "Being in its presence just has not been good, and it should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there."
Instead, Trump said, Gazans should go to other "countries of interest with humanitarian hearts" paid for by wealthy neighboring countries.
According to Trump, Gazans could go to numerous sites or one large site but they will be able to live in "comfort and peace."
"We'll make sure something really spectacular is done. They're gonna have peace," Trump said. "They're not going to be shot at and killed and destroyed like this, civilization of wonderful people has had to endure."
Trump said "the world's people" will live in Gaza once it's rebuilt and the strip will be made into an "international, unbelievable place."
He said representatives from all over the world will "be there and live there."
"Palestinians, also," he said. "Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there. But they've tried the other, and they've tried it for decades and decades and decades. It's not going to work. It didn't work, it will never work. And you have to learn from history, history is, you know, just can't let it keep repeating itself. We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal."
On the ceasefire deal, Trump said he "hopes it holds"
While the Biden administration was vocal in its praise for the Trump administration's support in working to secure the ceasefire and hostage deal, Trump said his White House wasn't "helped very much by the Biden administration."
"But we've gotten quite a few hostages out. We're going to get more out, but we're dealing with very complex people, and we are going to see whether or not it holds," he said. "We certainly want to have more come out."
Netanyahu praised Trump's "willingness to puncture conventional thinking" and willingness to help Israel achieve its goals.
"[Trump] sees a different future for that piece of land that has been the focus of so much terrorism, so many attacks against us, so many trials and so many tribulations. He has a different idea, and I think it's worth paying attention to this. We're talking about it. He's exploring it with his people, with his staff," Netanyahu said.
"I think it's something that could change history, and it's worthwhile really pursuing this avenue."
Israeli Saudi relations
Both Trump and Netanyahu still expressed confidence in normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia.
Trump said Saudi Arabia is going to "be very helpful, and they have been very helpful."
Netanyahu added he thinks peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia is not only feasible, it's going to happen.
Normalization would've happened if Trump's first term was six months longer, he added.