Donald Trump said the U.S. should take control of the devastated Gaza Strip, shunt the area’s residents to other countries and rebuild it into a new "Riviera,” a proposal at odds with Mideast reality and America’s fraught history in the region that quickly drew sharp opposition from Saudi Arabia.
"The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip,” Trump said Tuesday during a White House news conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.”
Trump — who has long railed against America’s "forever wars” — even suggested he would be open to deploying U.S. troops to secure the area, saying he would "do what is necessary.” He said he saw the U.S. presence in the contested territory as a "long-term ownership position.”
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