Trump wants to “buy and own” Gaza – 14 February 2025
Donald Trump wants the USA to “take over” Gaza, and turn it into a coastal resort for people from around the world.
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His idea would mean moving out two million Palestinian people who live in Gaza, and re-homing them in new settlements in neighbouring countries, Egypt and Lebanon.
Mr Trump says the Palestinians would have no right to return. “No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing,” he told Fox News. “I’m talking about building a permanent place for them.”
The plan would also mean demolishing what structures are still standing in Gaza, and starting afresh. “[We’ll] make it into an international, unbelievable place,” he told reporters.
“I think the potential [in Gaza] is unbelievable.”
The world’s reaction
Mr Trump outlined his plan while Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting him in Washington, DC.
Mr Netanyahu says Mr Trump’s idea is “remarkable” and “creative”, but it has been strongly criticised by others.
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Israel president Mr Netanyahu (left) and Mr Trump
The United Nations (UN) says that forcing people out of their homeland is strictly against international law, and would be a form of “ethnic cleansing” (clearing an area of people who are of a certain ethnicity, race or religion).
Human rights group Amnesty said the plan was “outrageous”, shameful” and a “crime against humanity”.
World leaders from the likes of Germany, Brazil, Russia and China have also rejected the idea, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that “Palestinians must be allowed home”.
Much of Gaza lies in ruins at the moment after 16 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas, the terrorist group that controls Gaza. The UN thinks that two-thirds of its buildings have been damaged. A ceasefire (a pause in the fighting) has recently allowed Palestinians who had fled the violence to return to what’s left of their homes.
Palestinians themselves have reacted in horror at Trump’s idea, and Hamas has said that the land is “not for sale”.
Where is Gaza?
Gaza sits between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea. It’s a long strip of land about three times the size of Manchester. Year-round, its monthly top temperatures sit between 18ºC and 30ºC.
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