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President Trump has affirmed that under his contentious development blueprint for the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, Palestinians would not be permitted to return to the Hamas-controlled territory. “No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing. Much better,” Trump told Fox News “Special Report” host Bret Baier in an excerpt from the weekend interview aired Monday morning on “Fox & Friends.”
“In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever — it’s not habitable,” the president elaborated. “It would be years before it could happen.”
Last week, Trump unveiled his aspirations for the US to “take over the Gaza Strip” and develop the coastal land to transform it into “the Riviera of the Middle East,” while indicating that “all” of its roughly 2 million current residents would be relocated to neighboring nations.
🏘️ Terrorists in Luxury Villas?
A new housing project in the West Bank is offering luxury villas exclusively for Palestinians convicted of terrorism.
This neighborhood sends a dangerous message: terrorism pays. pic.twitter.com/SyotFhO5n6
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 1, 2025
Both White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Secretary of State Marco Rubio subsequently claimed that Trump merely wanted the Palestinians resettled out of Gaza “temporarily” or for an “interim” period during reconstruction efforts.
Responding to Trump’s plan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that Palestinians could “relocate and come back.” “The actual idea of allowing Gazans who want to leave to leave — I mean, what’s wrong with that?” Netanyahu added at the time. “They can leave, they can then come back.”
Trump suggested over the weekend that neighboring Arab countries such as Egypt or Jordan could take in the Gazans and that the US might even help foot the bill. “I’m talking about starting to build, and I think I could make a deal with Jordan. I think I could make a deal with Egypt. You know, we give them billions and billions of dollars a year,” he added to Baier.
Officials from both Egypt and Jordan have rejected Trump’s pitch and Cairo has since announced an emergency Arab summit on Feb. 27 to address “new and dangerous developments.”
https://twitter.com/elly_bar/status/1888757244961153186
Trump has insisted that the Gazans would be taken care of under his plan. “We’ll build beautiful communities for the 1.9 million people. We’ll build beautiful communities, safe communities … a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” he added. “In the meantime, I would own this,” he continued. “Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent.”
The Gaza Strip has been shattered by 16 months of battle between Israel and Hamas following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack against the Jewish state by Hamas — which killed an estimated 1,200 people in the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
While sources tell The Post that Trump’s plan is not a bluff, top administration officials say last week’s announcement was a gambit meant to push Arab states to propose their own solutions.
Seven minutes of Trump’s interview with Baier aired during the Fox network’s Super Bowl pregame coverage Sunday, with the rest of the interview due to be broadcast Monday on “Special Report.”
