Trump restates plan for US ‘takeover’ of Gaza, with Palestinians ‘resettled in region’ | BBC News

hello and welcome to BBC News Donald Trump has doubled down on his plan for the United States to take control of Gaza also in the last few minutes the AFP news agency is reporting that Hamas has responded by urging Arab countries to resist the pressure from the US president and hold an urgent Arab Summit well Mr Trump posted details of his thinking on social media saying the territory will be handed over to America by Israel once the fighting there had ended there'd be no US troops on the ground he also said the US would work

with teams from around the world to rebuild Gaza in what he promised would be in his words one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind well let's talk now to our North America correspondent nomia ikbal and our Gaza correspondent rushi Abu alouf and nomia to you first of all despite all the condemnation we've had since Donald Trump made those first remarks he's given more details today what has he been saying has given more details but paradoxically it's really vague as well so as you said there he you know has said that Gaza

will be turned over to the US by Israel at the end of the war uh he said that Israel would you know presumably Israel would expel all Palestinians and then uh the US would become the occupying power all this would be done without US troops on the ground and then Gaza would be rebuilt not using American money Palestinians would be resettled elsewhere but it is confusing because uh you know bear in mind mind as well that Donald Trump has sold himself to his support and this is what they love about him as someone who doesn't

believe in nation building he doesn't believe in getting in involved in conflicts overseas so why would he want to get involved in such a complicated conflict one of the hardest conflicts that has you know sort of been really difficult for Americans to to solve for decades and so it looks like he's trying to have his cake and eat it coming up with lots of different ways of you know saying that well this is what our plan is uh the other question question is what are you going to do about Hamas how will you dislodge Hamas

from Gaza because if Arab nations are going to get involved in the rebuilding of Gaza which is presumably what Mr Trump wants they want an answer to that question and and Mr Trump hasn't really answered that uh and we know that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he wants the war to end only when hamus is completely destroyed but defense experts say that that's that probably is not likely it's impossible so how long can this war go on for because Mr Trump also wants peace he wants the war to end ASAP so

whilst yes he's given us more details it's so full of contradictions namia just briefly uh in those original comments he talked about moving Palestinians out in forcing that it would be permanent the White House forced to actually row back and water down those comments yeah they're now using the term temporary it's a temporary relocation and uh his secretary of state Mark aruby is also trying to walk back these comments this often happens with Donald Trump he he proposes things and then his the members of his own kind of team are trying to sort of explain

what he actually meant Mr ruia said oh you know this wasn't meant as a hostile takeover this is actually a generous offer we are showing willingness to rebuild and relocate but I think for a lot of people um you know stud the Arab Nations who are worried about this for people in for for garans I think the damage has already been done in some ways and there's still a load of confusion around exactly what Mr Trump's proposal is but one thing I should add Matthew is that the big question about what happens to Gaza postwar

has not not really been answered even Mr Netanyahu has dodged that question so in some respects Mr Trump is trying to offer some sort of solution as to what happens to Gaza in the future but it is of course a hugely controversial one and one that's probably not going to get any backing from members of his own party n thank very much let's bring in Rush d and a twin thought rushd tell me more about what people in Gaza have been saying to you reacting to what Donald Trump has said and that call for an

urgent Arab summit tell me more about that and whether that's likely to happen yeah there is very big confusion because a statement after a statement from Donald Trump but nobody know exactly what's the plan is but no for Palestinians no matter what the plan is they all rejecting the uh the idea of displacement or leaving Gaza in the official level the Palestinian Authority issuing a statement Hamas is issuing a statement saying that we reject that and we call the Arabs to hold urgent Summit but on the on the ground in Practical level people are continue

to return back to the north so they are in practics refusing the the idea by returning back to Gaza City where they all know that Gaza is almost destroyed especially the northern bar that was subject to a very tough Israeli operation what meant to H Force the people out of their Villages and towns in the north we we have seen 100 day operation by the Israelis and everybody believed that this was the the the idea behind the operation is to force people out many people yes did left but those who remains Palestinians call them Heroes

because they they they fought for the last uh minute this idea of displacement in general all Palestinians even though some of the people who are wanted to leave Gaza they want to have their right to return I've spoken to Palestinians in Gaza today many of them said yes we are happy to leave Gaza but we need to to have our right to return not like what happened back in 1948 when their grandfathers and their you know their family left what is now called Israel and they they haven't returned back so the people in political level

they want to have their rights to stay in Gaza and even if they leave they want to have the right to