Trump: My proposal to control Gaza is a real estate deal and I am not in a hurry to implement it

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is in no rush to implement his proposal for the United States to take control of the Gaza Strip and evacuate its residents to "develop real estate projects." Trump told reporters at the White House, while receiving Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, that there is "no rush at all" to implement the proposal.

Trump added that his plan, which he described as “real estate deals,” had been “very well received.” It was unclear who he was referring to, after his plan was criticized by regional leaders, close allies and some of his closest Republican allies in Congress.

Continuing his controversial statements, Trump said, "Israel will give it to us (Gaza), and they will monitor the situation from a security standpoint." He continued, "We are not talking about having troops on the ground or anything like that, but I think the fact that we are there, and that there are investments there, will contribute greatly to providing peace," he claimed.

This comes a day after he said on Thursday that "the United States will take over the Gaza Strip from Israel after the fighting ends," and by that time the Palestinians will have been "resettled" elsewhere in the region, particularly in Egypt and Jordan. He also said that "there will be no need for American soldiers" to implement his proposal on Gaza.

Cairo and Amman rejected the proposal, which also sparked international condemnation, with the United Nations warning against any "ethnic cleansing." Hamas and the Palestinian Authority also strongly rejected it. The international community calls for the implementation of the two-state solution, Israel and Palestine, but the occupying state of Israel strongly opposes it.

A series of meetings were held in the Israeli occupation state on Thursday to discuss the plan announced by Trump to displace the residents of the Gaza Strip and control it, as a senior official in the occupation army warned of the immediate security repercussions. According to the Israeli Channel 13, the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman), Major General Shlomi Bender, addressed the political level, saying that "preparations for the month of Ramadan" must be made at the end of this month, for fear that "Trump's plan will ignite the situation."

While other officials in the occupation army believed that the plan could succeed, but within limited scopes. For its part, the Hebrew website Ynet reported that Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz discussed yesterday evening, Thursday, with senior officials of the security establishment the possibility of the residents of the Strip "leaving" via Israel, from the port of Ashdod and Ramon Airport in Eilat.

Trump floated the idea of a U.S. takeover of Gaza at a White House news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. He also proposed moving Palestinians to neighboring countries and redeveloping the damaged area into a “Riviera of the Middle East.” He first raised the idea of expelling Palestinians from Gaza on Jan. 25, urging Egypt and Jordan to take in more of the enclave’s residents. Asked at the time if he was proposing a long-term or short-term solution, he said, “It could be either.”

(AFP, Anadolu, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed)