President Donald Trump has stated that Palestinians would not have the right to return to Gaza under his proposal to take U.S. ownership of the territory and redevelop it. In an interview with Fox News, Trump said, "No, they wouldn't, because they're going to have much better housing," referring to his plan to relocate displaced Palestinians to alternative sites outside the war-ravaged enclave.
Trump's remarks, aired Monday, have intensified global opposition to his controversial vision for Gaza, which he first announced last week during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The president described Gaza as a "big real estate site," adding, "The United States is going to own it, and we'll slowly-very slowly, we're in no rush-develop it." He further stated that resettled Palestinians would be provided with permanent housing "a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is."
Trump's proposal envisions building up to six new sites for displaced Palestinians in Egypt and Jordan, an idea that has been widely rejected by both governments. The Jordanian and Egyptian leadership, along with other Arab states, have dismissed the plan outright, calling it unworkable and dangerous.
The proposal caught several top U.S. administration officials off guard. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Latin America when Trump first revealed his vision, sought to reframe the plan as temporary. "What he very generously has offered is the ability of the United States to go in and help with debris removal, help with munitions removal, help with reconstruction-the rebuilding of homes and businesses and things of this nature, so that then people can move back in," Rubio said last week.
However, Trump contradicted those claims, stating Sunday that "it will be years before anyone can consider living in Gaza given the destruction of the war." He suggested that the plan was not simply a temporary relocation effort but a long-term redevelopment project that would permanently resettle Palestinians elsewhere. "I think I could make a deal with Jordan. I think I could make a deal with Egypt. We give them billions and billions of dollars a year," he said.
Trump's remarks have drawn widespread condemnation. Navi Pillay, the UN's top investigator on human rights, told Politico that Trump's plan for the "forcible displacement of an occupied group is an international crime and amounts to ethnic cleansing." She added, "There is no way under the law that Trump could carry out the threat to dislocate Palestinians from their land."
The issue of Palestinian displacement has long been a central political and humanitarian concern in the region. More than 1.5 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants-many of whom were displaced in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war-live in camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza. The right of return remains a highly sensitive issue, with Palestinian leaders viewing it as non-negotiable.
Despite the mounting international backlash, Trump appears undeterred. "Think of it as a real estate development for the future," he told Fox News. "It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent."
Trump is scheduled to meet with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday, amid growing tensions over the proposal. Jordan has already signaled its firm opposition to the idea, with officials stating that any forced relocation of Palestinians would be viewed as a direct threat to regional stability.
While White House officials initially sought to downplay Trump's remarks as a strategic move to pressure Arab nations into offering their own solutions, the president's repeated insistence on "owning" Gaza has made it clear that his administration is actively pursuing the proposal. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," defended Trump's approach, saying, "Come to the table with your plan if you don't like his plan."
The proposal has also received backing from Israel's far-right settler movement and evangelical allies in the U.S., who have long advocated for the annexation of the Gaza Strip and other occupied Palestinian territories, including the West Bank.
