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Trump’s aides tried to walk back his Gaza takeover plan
Middle East leaders and key U.S. partners around the world quickly opposed President Trump’s proposal to force Palestinians out of Gaza and take it over. Amid the global alarm, top administration officials sought yesterday to soften elements of Trump’s plan.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that Trump was proposing only to clear out and rebuild Gaza and not to take it over. Steve Witkoff, the special envoy to the Middle East, told Republican senators during a closed-door meeting that Trump “doesn’t want to put any U.S. troops on the ground, and he doesn’t want to spend any U.S. dollars at all” on Gaza, according to a senator.
The Gaza proposal upended decades of international diplomacy and created a backlash in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia expressed its “unequivocal rejection,” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said aid to Gaza would have to begin “without the Palestinians leaving,” and the king of Jordan warned against any attempt at displacement. Palestinians in Gaza expressed a mixture of condemnation and confusion.
A U.N. spokesman said that “any forced displacement of people is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.” Experts said a U.S. takeover of Gaza would be a breach of international law.
