President Donald Trump listens to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2025.

President Donald Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Tuesday, the first foreign leader to visit in his second term, by floating the idea that the United States should take ownership of the Gaza Strip and permanently displace all Palestinians living there.

After describing the Gaza Strip as a hellish environment, Trump told reporters that he wants to expel “all” Palestinians from Gaza — not just during a period of reconstruction following the Israel–Hamas war, but permanently. Trump suggested that current residents of Gaza can instead “occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony, instead of having to go back and do it again.”  ….more

Trump’s Gaza remarks are no surprise: ethnic cleansing was always the plan