President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States’ “controlling and owning” the Gaza Strip would be a good thing, again floating a proposal that he put forward multiple times during the opening weeks of his administration.
“Having a force like the United States there, controlling and owning the Gaza Strip would be a good thing,” Trump told reporters at the White House, after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“If you take the people, the Palestinians, and move them around to different countries — and you have plenty of countries that will do that — and you really have a freedom zone. You call it the freedom zone, a free zone, a zone where people aren’t going to be killed every day,” Trump told reporters on Monday, as reported by CNN.
He added that he was confused as to “why Israel ever gave (Gaza) up.”
“That’s a hell of a place,” Trump said. “You know what I call it — a great location that nobody wants to live in.”
US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, April 7, 2025. (credit: Avi Ohayon / GPO)
End to Israel-Hamas War
Trump also spoke on his election campaign promise to end the war in Gaza, Trump said: “I’d like to see the war stop, and I think the war will stop at some point, that won’t be in the too-distant future.”
The president also spoke about his administration’s efforts to free the hostages.
Trump said work was ongoing to free hostages held by Hamas, but said securing the release of all the hostages was “a long process.”
Following the January ceasefire that saw some hostages released, Netanyahu said, Israel was working on “another deal we hope will succeed.”
“We’re committed to getting all the hostages out, but also eliminating the evil tyranny of Hamas in Gaza and enabling the people of Gaza to freely make a choice to go wherever they want,” he said.
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Netanyahu said he had also discussed with Trump the US president’s “bold vision” for the future of Gaza, a reference to a proposal for the US to take over the enclave that Trump put forward multiple times during the opening weeks of his administration. Trump’s plan has been globally condemned as a proposal for ethnic cleansing.
