Gaza currently is "not habitable" due to dangers such as unexploded weapons, and people would have to live elsewhere while the area is rebuilt, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday.
Rubio, answering a reporter's question during a visit to the Dominican Republic, encouraged other countries to step forward and offer to help rebuild Gaza but did not say whether Palestinians would be able to return to the area under a proposal by US President Donald Trump to take over and develop the Gaza Strip.
"I think that's just a realistic reality, that in order to fix a place like that, people are going to have to live somewhere else in the interim," Rubio said.
Rubio's Middle East visit
Rubio will visit Israel and Arab states in mid-February, a State Department official said, making his first to the Middle East after a widely condemned proposal by President Donald Trump to displace Palestinians in Gaza.
Rubio will travel to the Munich Security Conference and Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia from February 13-18, the senior State Department official said late on Thursday.
Trump’s controversial plan to take over Gaza was announced during his joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.
Several White House staff members have made attempts to walk back the severity of the statement, saying the plan would only call for a “temporary evacuation.”