President Donald Trump, on Thursday, renewed the call to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone.” “I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good, make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,” President Trump said in Qatar during his four-day trip through the Middle East.
The terrorist group Hamas is “going to have to be dealt with” before Gaza’s reconstruction can begin, he added. Gaza has been wrecked with destruction as Hamas continues to hold hostages for more than 19 months after launching a massive, unprovoked terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
In early February, President Trump suggested that the U.S. is willing to “take over the Gaza Strip” and transform the terrorist-infested enclave into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
The president proposed resettling a large number of Gaza residents, for the duration of reconstruction, in neighboring Arab states of Egypt and Jordan. The proposal was sharply rejected by China, Russia, European countries, and Muslim states.
Time magazine reported:
During a business roundtable in Qatar on Thursday, May 16, President Donald Trump once again suggested a U.S. takeover of Gaza as a way of attempting to redevelop the Palestinian territory.“I think I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone. Let some good things happen, put people in homes where they can be safe, and Hamas is going to have to be dealt with,” said Trump, during the roundtable with Qatari officials, in the presence of reporters.He continued: “I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good. Make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved.”Per CNN, the U.S. President went on to add: “They’ve never solved the Gaza problem and if you look at it, I have aerial shots, I mean there’s practically no building standing, there’s no building. People are living under the rubble of buildings that collapsed, which is not acceptable, it’s tremendous death. And I want to see that be a freedom zone.”
Trump’s remarks come as Israeli military steps up operations in Gaza after Hamas last month rejected a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal, refusing to negotiate the return of 58 remaining hostages — of which nearly 20 are believed to be alive.
“Over the past two days, the IAF [Israeli Air Force] struck over 130 terror targets belonging to terrorist organizations throughout the Gaza Strip. Among the targets struck were surface-to-surface rocket launchers, terrorist cells, military structures, and operational apartments from which terrorists operated to execute terrorist attacks against IDF troops,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement Thursday.
“In southern Gaza, IDF troops eliminated a number of terrorists and dismantled dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites and weapons caches belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization,” the IDF statement added. “In northern Gaza, IDF troops dismantled a booby-trapped structure and a compound used by terrorists to execute ambushes against IDF troops operating in the area.”
Israeli fighter jets carried out waves of airstrikes on Tuesday and Wednesday, aimed at destroying a network of Hamas bunkers sheltering senior terrorists, including Mohammed Sinwar, a top-ranking terrorist commander and the brother of former Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar. The IDF is still assessing the outcome of these strikes.
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