![Donald Trump speaks during an event on July 07^ 2020 in Washington^ DC.](https://dehayf5mhw1h7.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/1644/2025/02/11110540/shutterstock_2566460729966579.webp)
President Donald Trump expanded on his statement last week about “owning” the Gaza Strip, sharing in an interview with Fox News host Brett Baier that Palestinians would have ‘no right to return’ to their homes in Gaza.
Trump did not provide details about how a purchase of Gaza would occur, or how he planned to move two million people; instead insisting that Palestinians will find new homes in Egypt and Jordan. Trump said in the interview: “We’ll build beautiful communities for the 1.9 million people. We’ll build beautiful communities, safe communities; could be five, six, could be two but we’ll build safe communities a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is. In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future.”
The President said that the Palestinians would have no right to return because “they’re going to have much better housing. I’m talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it will be years before you could ever — it’s not habitable.” Trump added that “It will be years before it could happen. I’m talking about starting to build and I think I could make a deal with Jordan. I think I can make a deal with Egypt. You know, we give them billions and billions of dollars a year.”
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, two countries that signed the Abraham Accords with Israel normalizing ties during Trump’s first administration, have joined Saudi Arabia in pushing back against the removal of Palestinians from Gaza. They also blasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for supporting Trump’s idea for Gaza, after Netanyahu suggested that Saudi Arabia could be a home for a new Palestinian state.
Editorial credit: Chip Somodevilla / Shutterstock.com