Rabat – US President Donald Trump continues to shock the world with controversial statements over the war-torn Gaza.
Trump said today that Israel would “hand over” Gaza to the United States after “the fighting is over” and Gazans are relocated elsewhere. His statements completely delegitimize the free will of Palestinians in what happens to the enclave, illegally positioning the ownership to already belong to Israel.
The US president made his bombastic statements on his Truth Social web platform, adding that “No soldiers by the US would be needed!”
Palestinians “would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region,” he claimed.
This follows Trump’s controversial proposal that the US will “take over,” develop, and illegally turn the Gaza enclave into the “Rivera of the Middle East.”
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz has already ordered his country’s army to prepare a plan allowing for the “voluntary departure of Gaza’s population,” backing Trump’s controversial and egregious proposal.
The statements come as Gazans are undergoing inhumane conditions, in dire need of humanitarian aid, and reeling from 15-months of an Israel-orchestrated, US-supported genocide.
While Palestinians were expecting the second round of the ceasefire truce negotiations to bring permanent and complete peace to their land, Trump’s bold statements now add salt to their wounds.
The second phase of the truce, which was scheduled for last Monday but postponed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was poised to lead to more aid flow and allow the revival of the war-ravaged Gaza.
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The relocation proposal sparked controversy and rejection from Palestinians and other countries around the world.
Palestine’s Hamas and PLO representatives strongly condemned Trump’s statements about controlling Gaza, describing it as “ridiculous and absurd,” racist, and aligned with Israeli far-right positions.
Within the US, Democratic politicians also strongly opposed the proposal, with Senator Van Hollen calling it “ethnic cleansing by another name.”
For their part, Saudi Arabia rejected the plan, maintaining that normalizing ties with Israel requires establishing a Palestinian state, while Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov described the proposal as “collective punishment.”
Meanwhile, China opposed the forced transfer of Gazans and advocated for a two-state solution.
