Trump Administration officials are struggling in their attempts to “clarify” President Trump’s Gaza takeover plan, and are getting their stories mixed. Both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt contradicted some of Trump’s claims over the course of Feb. 5 and 6, saying that the relocation of Gazans would only be temporary. According to a report in AP, while on a visit to Guatemala on Feb. 5, Rubio said: “In the interim, obviously, people are going to have to live somewhere while you’re rebuilding it. It is akin to a natural disaster.” Leavitt on the same day said: “The President has made it clear that they need to be temporarily relocated out of Gaza.” Rubio again on Feb. 6 insisted the proposal was only for an “interim” relocation.
Trump shook things up again on Feb. 6 when he posted on Social Truth an updated message that evinced no concept of “temporary” resettlement: “The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting. The Palestinians, people like Chuck Schumer, would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region. They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free. The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth. No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”
In other comments on the proposal, Rubio said Trump has offered “the willingness of the United States to become responsible for the reconstruction of that area. It was not meant as a hostile move. It was meant as a, I think, a very generous move.” He added that, if the offer were accepted, “it would have to be worked out among multiple partner nations.”
