Did Trump signal a change about US' Gaza ownership? President says 'we don't have to buy'

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday continued pressing his plan for the United States to take ownership of the Gaza Strip and displace the 2.1 million Palestinians living there into neighboring countries as he met with the leader of one of America’s closest Middle East allies, King Abdullah II of Jordan.

As the two leaders met in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that the US would not endeavor to purchase Gaza, despite statements made in the last few days in which he’d suggested that some sort of monetary transaction would allow for America to lay claim to the war-torn territory.

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'We don't have to buy Gaza'

“We're going to have Gaza. We don't have to buy. There's nothing to buy. We will have Gaza,” he said when asked about his prior statement about purchasing the long-occupied piece of land.


But Trump, who made his fortune as a real estate tycoon did however deny that he would seek to personally develop property in Gaza. "No. I've had a great career in real estate," he said.

Trump, who had earlier said his plan to "take over Gaza" would not include a right of return for displaced Palestinians, now said the redeveloped land will be for people in the Middle East.

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“We're going to take it, we're going to hold it, we're going to cherish it. We're going to get it going eventually, where a lot of jobs are going to be created for the people in the Middle East. It's going to be for the people in the Middle East,” he added.

Trump has time and again suggested that neighboring countries such as Jordan and Egypt could absorb Gaza’s population — something both governments have rejected. The US President said the Palestinians living there would be happy to leave because they are currently “living a terrible life” after more than a year of war following the October 7 terror attacks on Israel by Hamas.

“Look at the way they're living now. Nobody's nobody's living like that in the entire world. They're living under buildings that are mostly fallen down and will continue to fall down, and they're living under people are being killed every day. The conditions are horrible. There are no conditions anywhere in the world that are worse than the Gaza Strip,” he said.

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The US leader stunned the world when he announced a proposal last week for the United States to "take over" Gaza, envisioning rebuilding the devastated territory into the "Riviera of the Middle East" -- but only after resettling Palestinians elsewhere, with no plan for them ever to return.

The American President's plan to "own" Gaza and place it under "US authority" faced pushback from the visiting Abdullah II, who informed that Egypt was working on a plan for how countries in the region could "work" with Trump on his shock proposal.

"I reiterated Jordan's steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This is the unified Arab position. Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all," Abdullah said on social media after the talks.

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In an interview with the Fox News, Trump said he would own Gaza and there could be as many as six different sites for Palestinians to live outside Gaza under the plan. Palestinians would not have the right to return to Gaza, Trump said adding that they would have much better housing outside Gaza.

"No, they wouldn't, because they're going to have much better housing," Trump said. "In other words, I'm talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it'll be years before you could ever -- it's not habitable."

"In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent," Trump said.