Real estate mogul-turned-president Trump’s ‘owning Gaza’ remark sparks firestorm

By Alireza Akbari

US President Donald Trump doubled down on his call for ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza during his meeting with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.

Speaking at a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House—his first since returning to office on January 20, 2025—Trump, who is also a real estate mogul, reiterated his stance on the war-battered Gaza Strip, inferring the US should seize control of the besieged coastal territory and permanently expel local Palestinians.

"The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it,” Trump declared.

“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, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs.”

His remarks stunned journalists in the room, with some pressing him on the legal basis for a US takeover. Trump did not provide a direct answer, instead referring to a "long-term ownership position."

His comments sparked immediate backlash on social media, with many activists on X (formerly Twitter) calling his remarks “one of the most brazen ideas that any American leader has advanced in years.”

Analysts framed his so-called “humanitarian imperative” for Gaza as a strategic maneuver serving the Israeli regime's interests in the region. Legal experts condemned his proposal as a blatant violation of international law, citing the prohibition on the forcible removal of Gaza’s nearly two million residents.

Trump’s suggestion that the US would "take over" and "own" Gaza raised further alarm, with activists warning it implied a plan to forcibly “clear” the territory, something he had mentioned last month.

He floated the bizarre idea last month, saying he would ask the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations to accept Gaza's homeless population and that moving some 1.5 million people away from the war-ravaged territory might mean that "we just clean out that whole thing."

“It’s literally a demolition site right now,” Trump said at the time, referring to the massive scale of destruction caused by the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza that lasted more than 470 days.

His mention of Jordan and Egypt as potential relocation sites for Palestinians fueled additional concerns over Washington’s role in reshaping the war-torn territory’s future.

These comments come as the fragile ceasefire in in place in Gaza after 15 months of genocide that killed over 47,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women. 

Protests surge against Trump

Widespread outrage over Trump’s outlandish remarks about Gaza sparked a wave of anger and outcry that quickly translated into mass protests on the streets of Washington DC on Wednesday.

Shortly after the joint press conference, hundreds of demonstrators marched outside the meeting venue, holding banners that read: “No to normalization, struggle until liberation,” “Stop US funding of Israeli apartheid,” and “Jews worldwide condemn Israeli brutality.”

One banner that drew significant attention read “Arrest warrant,” a reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for grave war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza—including charges of murder, persecution, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war.

In another protest, demonstrators gathered in Washington to chant, “Gaza is not for sale,” rejecting Trump’s assertion of US control over the Palestinian territory. 

Palestinian resistance groups also slammed the remarks in the strongest terms on Wednesday.

Gaza-based Islamic Jihad reminded Trump that “15 months of relentless bombing, with 80,000 tons of American weaponry,” had failed to displace Palestinians from Gaza.

It reaffirmed the long-standing Palestinian commitment to resistance against the Zionist occupation.

“Our Palestinian people have always had the option of resistance, a path they have pursued for over a century—before Trump and after him. Indeed, it is a jihad of victory or martyrdom.”

Hamas also denounced Trump’s remarks in a statement issued on Wednesday.

“We affirm that we, our Palestinian people and its living forces, will not allow any state in the world to occupy our land or impose guardianship on our great Palestinian people, who have offered rivers of blood to liberate our land from occupation and to establish our Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," stated the Gaza-based movement.

Hamas echoed Islamic Jihad’s position, emphasizing the steadfastness of Palestinians in defending their land against any threats.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, was quoted as saying that Trump’s proposed relocation plan for the Palestinian territory was “a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region.”

“Our people in Gaza will not allow for these plans to come to pass,” he said. “What is needed is the end of the occupation and the aggression against our people, not expelling them from their land.”

Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian-American journalist and director of The Electronic Intifada, noted that Trump’s statements openly exposed US intentions, noting that “evil plans of the US openly instead of pretending to care about Palestinians while mass murdering them like the genocidal Democrats.”

Filmmaker and activist Abby Martin said it was "hallucinatory to see Trump declare ethnic cleansing plans next to a smirking genocide fugitive," referring to the ICC-wanted Israeli premier.

Noted Canadian political activist Jagmeet Singh said Gaza belongs to Palestine — and no one else.

"Trump's threats are utter madness. They violate every international law. Destabilize the region. Threaten the ceasefire. Canada must stand up to this forcefully. Gaza is not for sale, it belongs to Palestinians," he wrote in a post on X.

Palestinians also reacted strongly to Trump's remarks. Quds News Agency quoted an elderly Palestinian man saying "We will not leave our land; we are steadfast and staying in our homeland."

"The feelings I have while listening to this are just wrath and pain," said Abubaker Abed, Press TV correspondent in northern Gaza, in response to Trump's remarks during his meeting with Netanyahu.

"How can my future be decided by someone else? This world is upside down. We are here. And we won’t leave. People would prefer to die alone in Gaza rather than leave for peace."

World leaders also reacted with shock and fury to Trump's assertions regarding Gaza.

“I will be very clear: Gaza is the land of Palestinians and they must stay. Gaza is part of the future State of Palestine that Spain supports," said Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares.

The leaders of Australia, Ireland, China, New Zealand, and Germany, as well as a Kremlin spokesman, condemned Trump's remarks.

Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib slammed the newly-elected American president for “openly calling for ethnic cleansing” with the idea of resettling Gaza’s entire population.

Trump’s Gaza remarks also revived memories of a speech by late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in mid-February 2017, in which he warned about the true nature of US policies.

"We should thank Trump for revealing yet again the true face of the US administration—a racist, criminal, murderous, bloodthirsty entity that confiscates freedoms, plunders wealth, conspires against oppressed peoples," the iconic Lebanese resistance leader said at the time.

“Neither Trump nor his father, nor his grandfather, nor George Bush, nor his father, nor his grandfather, nor any of these racists can touch the courage, will, conviction, or faith of even a child among us, let alone our men and elders.”

Trump’s remarks on Tuesday came less than two weeks after he told a group of reporters while traveling from Las Vegas to Miami that "we just clean out that whole thing,” referring to Gaza.

He also recalled a conversation with Jordan’s King Abdullah II. “I said to him, ‘I’d love for you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess.’ … I’d like Egypt to take people.”

Trump’s comments echoed earlier remarks by his son-in-law and former advisor Jared Kushner, who, in March 2024, spoke at Harvard University about the forced removal of Palestinians from Gaza—remarks that similarly drew backlash from political activists at the time.

In an interview posted on the YouTube channel of the Middle East Initiative, a program of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Kushner suggested that Israel should “clean up” Gaza and relocate Palestinians to the Negev desert.

"Gaza's waterfront property could be very valuable... if people would focus on building up livelihoods," Kushner said. He further added, "From Israel's perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up," hinting at a plan to displace Palestinians.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald in a post on X said Gaza is now rubble "because of the sociopath sitting next to Trump grinning, knowing he owns the US."

"Palestinians will never voluntarily leave. So is Trump proposing yet another US war for Israel, this time to ethnically cleanse Gaza and give Jared Kushner real estate holdings," he wrote.

South American journalist Pedro Gonzalez echoed Greenwald, linking remarks of Trump and Kushner.

"Regardless of where you fall on Trump’s proposal to extend the American empire to Gaza, it’s just incorrect to say that this was a random remark made in the moment. Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and ex-senior advisor, has been talking about this for a while," he wrote.

The meeting on Tuesday also saw an image of Trump adjusting Netanyahu’s chair for him going viral.

Many observers took to social media to interpret this gesture as emblematic of the US government’s subservience to the Israeli regime, with some mocking the “America First” slogan.

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www.presstv.ir