US allies, adversaries reject Trump suggestion to 'take over' Gaza Strip

Both U.S. allies and adversaries alike rejected President Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. “take over” the war-torn Gaza Strip and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” 

Trump floated the idea during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday. He said the U.S. would be involved in clearing the territory where not only Palestinians but “the world’s people” would benefit from it as an access point to the Mediterranean coast. 

“I think you’ll make that into an international, unbelievable place… I don’t want to be cute, I don’t want to be a wise guy, but the Riviera of the Middle East… this could be so magnificent,” Trump said in his first major Middle East policy announcement since return to the Oval Office. 

Among U.S. friends and foes, the message was not well received. 

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministery refused to forge a diplomatic relationship with Israel without a path for Palestinians to get an independent state.

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia also stresses what it had previously announced regarding its absolute rejection of infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, annexation of Palestinian lands or efforts to displace the Palestinian people from their land,” the ministry said in a statement shortly after Trump’s remarks. 

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also reaffirmed his backing for a two-state solution on Wednesday. 

"Australia played, historically, a very important role in the creation of the state of Israel. It's something that … governments consistently since then have supported,” he told reporters, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

"But those governments have also supported what happened then, which was the creation of two states, not just one, and that remains my position, and it has been a bipartisan position up to this point,” Albanese added. 

Trump's comments on Gaza came as the fragile ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas is underway, with Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners while the Palestinian militant group has freed many of the hostages taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, which sparked war in the region.

Some of the U.S. biggest adversaries also reiterated their backing of a two-state solution. 

“We oppose the forced relocation of people in Gaza and hope that the relevant parties will take the ceasefire and post-war governance in Gaza as an opportunity to push the Palestinian issue back on the right track,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in a statement, according to The Associated Press (AP). 

A spokesperson for Hamas's Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that Trump’s remarks were "ridiculous and absurd,” emphasizing the group’s commitment to a three-step phase ceasefire with Israel. 

When the president was asked about possibly sending in U.S. troops to Gaza, he said America will “do what is necessary.” 

“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job — whether we’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out,” Trump said Tuesday.

Trump also suggested that Palestinians who have been displaced be permanently relocated from Gaza, echoing his previous proposals to have other countries in the region take in refugees. Reconstruction in the region, he added, will also likely take longer than the ceasefire suggests.