Trump’s Middle East envoy explains Gaza proposal
Steve Witkoff, the U.S. particular envoy to the Middle East, mentioned Gaza will probably be “uninhabitable” for at the least 10 to fifteen years as reconstruction talks proceed amid a fragile ceasefire settlement between Israel and Hamas.
“I think everybody wants to see peace in the region,” Witkoff mentioned in a Tuesday interview on “Hannity.”
“And peace in the region means a better life for the Palestinians. A better life is not necessarily tied to the physical space that you’re in today. A better life is about better opportunity, better financial conditions, better aspirations for you and your family. That doesn’t occur because you get to pitch a tent in the Gaza Strip and you’re surrounded by 30,000 munitions that could go off at any moment. It’s a dangerous place to live today.”
People examine the particles and rubble on the web site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on Jan. 14, 2025 amid the continuing struggle within the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP through Getty Images)
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President Donald Trump proposed the United States “take over” the Gaza Strip, degree it and rebuild it in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later throughout a joint information convention with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I do see a long-term possession place, and I see it bringing nice stability to that a part of the Middle East, and perhaps the entire Middle East,” Trump mentioned, including it’s a call he didn’t make frivolously.
“Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent — in a really magnificent area that nobody would know. Nobody could look, because all they see is death and destruction and rubble and demolished buildings falling all over. It’s just a terrible, terrible sight.”
A view of destroyed buildings as the size of destruction, attributable to Israeli assaults, involves floor following the withdrawal of the Israeli military in Khan Yunis, Gaza on September 29,2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu through Getty Images)
The president has repeatedly advised relocating Palestinians to close by Egypt and Jordan, though each international locations have rejected such calls.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry released a statement shortly after Trump’s remarks, reaffirming Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s place on the institution of a Palestinian state, one thing it says should occur earlier than the Arab nation establishes diplomatic relations with Israel.
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Witkoff instructed Fox News host Sean Hannity that Trump needs to provide Palestinians “more hope” for a greater future, and one probably away from the war-torn enclave.
Palestinians stroll by way of the destruction left by the Israeli air and floor offensive after they withdrew from Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 7, 2024.
“I think he’s telling the Middle East that the last 50 years of doing things was not a correct way of doing things, and that he’s going to change it up, because all of those iterations have not worked,” the true property investor and developer mentioned.
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Netanyahu instructed reporters that Trump’s Gaza proposal is one thing that might change historical past.
“President Trump is taking it to a much higher level,” Netanyahu mentioned. “He sees a special future for that piece of land that has been the main focus of a lot terrorism, a lot — so many attacks against us, so many trials and so many tribulations. He has a special concept, and I believe it’s price being attentive to this.”
