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Trump says he is “hopeful” that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas can be the beginning of a larger and more enduring peace that will end the bloodshed and killing “once and for all”.
He notes that he signed an executive order on Tuesday withdrawing the US from the UN’s human right council – a body that he described as “antisemitic” – and ending all support for the UN’s Palestinian refugees agency (Unrwa).
Trump says America and Israel will “restore calm and stability” to the region and “expand prosperity, opportunity and hope to our nations and for all people the Middle East.”
Trump says US will 'take over' and 'own' the Gaza Strip
Trump once again says Gaza is a “demolition site” that is “very dangerous and very precarious”.
He says the Palestinians in Gaza should be moved to a “beautiful area with homes and safety …. so that they can live out their lives in peace and harmony”.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will go a job with it too,” Trump says.
We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings.
Trump calls the Gaza Strip a “symbol of death and destruction” for many decades and an “unlucky” place.
He says Gaza should not “go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that … lived a miserable existence there.”
Instead, he says Palestinians should go to other countries, without naming any specific countries.
“It could be sites or it could be one large site” where people would live “in comfort and peace”, he said.
“They’re not going to be shot at and killed,” Trump says, claiming that the “only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is that they have no alternative”.
Trump claims the Hamas attacks on 7 October “would have never happened” if he had been the US president at the time.
He says that he and Netanyahu have been discussing “how we can work together to ensure Hamas is eliminated and ultimately restore peace to a very troubled region.”
Trump says US-Israel bond is 'unbreakable' after 'fantastic' talks with Netanyahu
Donald Trump says he is “delighted” to welcome Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, noting that Netanyahu is the first foreign head of state to visit since Trump’s inauguration.
Trump described talks with Netanyahu as “fantastic” and described the relationship between the US and Israel as “great”.
“Bibi, I want to say it’s an honour to have you with us,” he said.
Over the past four years, the US and the Israeli alliance has been tested more than any time in history. But the bonds of friendship and affection between the American and Israeli people have endured for generations, and they are absolutely unbreakable.
Trump and Netanyahu hold press conference after White House meeting
The US president, Donald Trump, and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, are holding a joint press conference from the White House.
Earlier, Trump told reporters Palestinians have “no alternative” but to leave Gaza due to the devastation left by Israel’s war on Hamas, in effect endorsing ethnic cleansing of the territory over the opposition of Palestinians and neighbouring countries.
Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of talks with Donald Trump, was asked how optimistic he is about reaching the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.
“We’re going to try,” the Israeli leader replied.
That’s one of the things we’re going to talk about here. When Israel and the United States work together, when President Trump and I work together, the chances go up a lot.
'Our home is Gaza': Palestinian UN ambassador slams Trump's comments
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, has slammed Donald Trump’s comments that Palestinians should moved permanently out of Gaza and into a “beautiful area”.
“For those who want to send the Palestinian people to a ‘nice place’, allow them to go back to their original homes in what is now Israel,” Mansour said at news conference.
The Palestinian people want to rebuild Gaza because this is where we belong.
“Our country and our home is the Gaza Strip,” he continued. “It’s part of Palestine.
The Palestinian people selected the choice to return to [Gaza] … I think we should be respecting the wishes of the Palestinian people.
Key takeaways from Trump's comments as he hosts Netanyahu in White House
US president Donald Trump has welcomed Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to the White House on Tuesday ahead of talks on the fragile Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The two leaders are expected to hold a press conference shortly. Here’s a recap of Trump’s comments to reporters before talks with Netanyahu:
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Trump said Palestinians have “no alternative” but to “permanently” leave Gaza due to the devastation left by Israel’s war on Hamas. He described Gaza as a “pure demolition site” and claimed Palestinians would “love to leave Gaza”. “I don’t know how they could want to stay,” he said.
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Trump’s comments marked the first time he has publicly floated the permanent relocation of Palestinians from Gaza. The US president’s remarks in effect endorsed ethnic cleansing of the territory over the opposition of Palestinians and the neighbouring countries.
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Trump repeated his suggestion that Gaza’s population should be relocated to Jordan and Egypt – something both countries have firmly rejected. Asked where Palestinians should be moved to, he said they could be in Jordan, Egypt or “other places. You could have more than two.” “I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy,” he said.
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Trump refused to commit to supporting an independent Palestinian state as part of the two-state solution. “Well, a lot of plans change with time,” he said when asked if he was still committed to a plan like the one he laid out in 2020 that called for a Palestinian state.
Donald Trump, taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office, refused to commit to supporting a Palestinian state.
“A lot of plans change with time,” the US president said.
Now we are faced with a situation that’s different … a very complex and difficult situation.
Hamas official says Trump's comments 'a recipe for creating chaos'
A senior Hamas official has dismissed Donald Trump’s suggestion that Palestinians should be permanently relocated from Gaza, saying the US president’s comments were a “a recipe for creating chaos and tension” in the Middle East region.
“We consider it a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement, adding:
Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass. What is required is an end to the occupation and aggression against our people, not their expulsion from their land.
Another senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, also criticised Trump for his latest comments, according to Agence-France-Presse.
“Our people in Gaza have thwarted displacement and deportation plans under bombardment for more than 15 months,” Rishq said in a separate statement.
They are rooted in their land and will not accept any schemes aimed at uprooting them from their homeland.
Donald Trump has previously called on Gaza’s neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Egypt to take in Palestinians temporarily while reconstruction takes place in the strip.
But the US president’s comments just now mark the first time he has publicly floated making that resettlement permanent.
“I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza,” Trump said while sitting in the Oval Office with Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump calls for the permanent 'resettlement' of all Palestinians from Gaza
Donald Trump has been speaking to reporters ahead of talks with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the White House.
The US president said he would support an effort to permanently resettle Palestinians from Gaza to places where they can live without fear of violence.
Trump described Gaza as a “demolition site”. “The whole thing is a mess. It’s all death,” he said.
I think we need another location … If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people permanently.
He said he believed Palestinians should not be going back to Gaza. “Why would they want to return? The place has been hell,” he said.
Asked how many people he believed should be resettled from Gaza, Trump replied: “All of them.”
Netanyahu meets with Trump at White House
Joanna Walters
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived at the White House and begun his historic meeting with Donald Trump, as the first foreign leader to sit down in person with the 47th US president since his inauguration on January 20.
Here are some pictures showing the meet and greet.
Shaking hands.
In the Oval Office.
And a protest in Washington.
Joanna Walters
Here are a few more of Donald Trump’s controversial comments about what should happen to the Palestinian residents of Gaza.
They were part of what he said in the White House a little earlier, ahead of meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, where the US president made characteristically blunt, some might say crass, remarks that people would be “thrilled” to leave Gaza now that much of it’s in ruins.
He added, AFP reports, a suggestion that Palestinians should get a “fresh, beautiful piece of land” in either Egypt or Jordan instead.
If we could find the right piece of land, or numerous pieces of land, and build them some really nice places... I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza,” Trump said.
Egypt and Jordan have flatly rejected this, and earlier today their leaders stressed:
The need to commit to the united Arab position” that would help achieve peace, according to the Egyptian presidency.
Gazans have also denounced Trump’s idea.
Trump thinks Gaza is a pile of garbage - absolutely not,” said 34-year-old Hatem Azzam, a resident of the southern city of Rafah.
That’s not to say that Rafah isn’t suffering, coming up for 16 months since Israel launched a massive military counteroffensive in Gaza after Hamas, which controls the territory, led an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
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