Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday described his meeting at the White House with U.S. President Donald Trump two days earlier as a “great turning point” for the Jewish state, and urged observers to “listen very well” to the American leader’s proposal to relocate Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump said that Israel would transfer control of the Gaza Strip to the United States after the war against Hamas ends, with no American troops required on the ground.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting. The Palestinians, people like [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer, would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free. The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth. No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”
The comments expound upon the president’s remarks on Tuesday at the White House alongside Netanyahu, in which he said that the U.S. will “take over” and rebuild the Gaza Strip and called for “permanently” resettling residents of the Strip in other countries.
Netanyahu on Thursday also referenced his meeting with the heads of the House of Representatives and the Senate—Republicans and Democrats alike—and said they had all agreed “that Iran must not have nuclear weapons and two, that Hamas must be eliminated. It cannot be there in Gaza.
“They all expressed great appreciation for Israel’s major achievements. I said that we are changing the face of the Middle East, and they simply saluted this,” continued Netanyahu.
“But they asked me: ‘Where does your strength come from? A country that is as small as New Jersey, from where do you get your strength?'”
“I said, ‘Our strength comes from our people and from our heroic soldiers, and from our faith and the understanding that we are fighting for thousands of years of Jewish history and for our right to a state of our own in the Middle East, in our historic homeland.’ This is the truth – and it will take us very far.”