Top Trump officials try to walk back President’s Gaza ownership comments
Senior officials in the Donald Trump administration have attempted to clarify the President’s comments suggesting that the US would “take over” the Gaza Strip and assume a “long-term ownership position” in the enclave.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is visiting Guatemala, sought to downplay Trump’s remarks, calling them a generous offer to help with Gaza’s reconstruction.
“The only thing President Trump has done, very generously, in my view, is offer the United States’ willingness to step in, clear the debris, clean the place up from all the destruction that’s on the ground, and clean it up of all these unexploded munitions,” Rubio said in a news conference on Wednesday alongside Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo.
Rubio explained that while crews work to remove debris and munitions, residents would temporarily be unable to return to their homes. He emphasized that the proposal, which caused alarm worldwide and was opposed by several Arab nations and US allies in Europe, would need to be negotiated among multiple partner nations.
“Seriously, it was not meant as a hostile move,” Rubio insisted. “It was meant as a very generous move, the offer to rebuild and to be in charge of the rebuilding of a place many parts of which, right now, even if people move back, they would have nowhere to live safely, because there are still unexploded munitions and debris and rubble.”
Rubio did not address whether or how Palestinians, who Trump suggested would be relocated elsewhere during the reconstruction, would eventually be allowed to return to Gaza.
Trump had raised concerns about sending US troops to Gaza during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. He was asked if the US would deploy troops to fill a “security vacuum” in Gaza, to which he responded: “If it’s necessary, we’ll do that.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to temper the media’s expectations about a US military deployment in Gaza, repeatedly stating on Wednesday that “the President has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza.”
Regarding Trump’s remarks about not ruling out US military involvement, Leavitt explained, “The President is very good when he’s making deals and negotiating, not to rule out anything because he wants to preserve that leverage in negotiations.”
Leavitt also clarified that Trump’s plan involved temporarily relocating Gazans out of Gaza to facilitate the rebuilding effort. This explanation, however, appeared to differ from Trump’s own words during the Tuesday news conference, where he stated: “I hope that we can do something where (Gazans) wouldn’t want to go back — who would want to go back?”
