Sitting alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump doubled down on his stunning February proposal to expel all Palestinian Gaza’s residents so that the enclave can be turned into a beach resort under US occupation during a press conference held in the Oval Office at the White House, Monday evening, April 7. “They took oceanfront property, and they gave it to people for peace. How did that work out? Not good,” Trump said of Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump during the press conference held in the Oval Office at the White House, Monday evening, April 7, 2025 (Photo: The White House)
Trump made the surprise announcement to reporters and agreed “I think it’s an incredible piece of real estate, and I think it’s something that we’d be involved in. But you know, having a peace force like the United States there, controlling and owning the Gaza Strip would be a good thing, because right now, all it is for years and years, all I hear about is killing” Trump said. “If you take the people and move them down to different countries – and you have plenty of countries that will do that – you really have a freedom zone,” he said. Both the US and Israel have already engaged in talks with Somalia and South Sudan, among others, to take in Palestinians from Gaza.
According to Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman, “Trump’s imperialist plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza and take it under American occupation is a declaration of another criminal war on the Palestinian people of Gaza. The people of Gaza will stay on their land, and they will rebuild it.”
Earlier, the heads of six UN agencies Monday called for the immediate resumption of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. In a statement, Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator; Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF; Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director, UNOPS; Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General, UNRWA; Cindy McCain, Executive Director, World Food Programme and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO warned of severe aid shortages and hunger since Israel resumed its all-out aggression on March 18. “For over a month, no commercial or humanitarian supplies have entered Gaza,” the heads of the agencies said in a press statement.
“More than 2.1 million people are trapped, bombed and starved again, while, at crossing points, food, medicine, fuel and shelter supplies are piling up, and vital equipment is stuck. Over 1,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured in just the first week after the breakdown of the ceasefire, the highest one-week death toll among children in Gaza in the past year,” they added.
They described the acts of war they were witnessing on the Strip as ones “that show an utter disregard for human life.” “With the tightened Israeli blockade on Gaza now in its second month, we appeal to world leaders to act – firmly, urgently and decisively – to ensure the basic principles of international humanitarian law are upheld.”
Israel unilaterally ended the Gaza ceasefire agreement and resumed its aggression on the Strip on Tuesday, March 18, carrying out a wave of bloody airstrikes across the Strip and killing hundreds of Palestinians, including over 100 children. The death toll reached 1,391 with 3,434 others wounded, according to medical sources. Emergency teams are attempting to recover victims still trapped beneath the rubble. The aggression was resumed amidst concerns over the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Strip given the ongoing siege and ban on the entry of medical and humanitarian aid.
Israel has waged a deadly war in the Strip since October 2023, killing 50,752 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 115,475 others. Moreover, at least 10,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Today, hundreds of activists demonstrated in the United States in front of the United Nations building in New York, condemning the occupation’s aggression in the Gaza Strip and demanding that the Security Council and the General Assembly intervene to stop the genocide and allow the return of civilians to their homes.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32449
