Donald Trump has doubled down on his proposal for the US to take over the Gaza Strip – despite a global backlash – claiming that Israel will hand it over to Washington once the current 15-month war in the territory is over – and without the need for American troops to be involved.
Arab nations across the Middle East, Palestinians inside Gaza and nations across Europe moved swiftly to condemn Mr Trump’s suggestion earlier this week that the US could “take over” the strip with “a long-term ownership position” – estimating that about 1.8 million of the near-2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza would have to be relocated to neighbouring nations to achieve his vision of turning what he called a “hellhole” into “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
