US President Donald Trump at the press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington, D.C. on February 4, 2025. (Photo: Anadolu Agency/VNA)

President Trump shocked the world with an announcement on Wednesday that the US will take over and own the Gaza Strip.

Controversial plan

Trump’s statement was later clarified by US officials, who said the plan to take over Gaza stems from the President's 'goodwill' to support the reconstruction of Gaza, which has been devastated by fighting between Israel and Hamas since October 2023.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US government has no plan to permanently expel Palestinian civilians from the Gaza Strip – only 'temporarily.' White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said it is unlikely the US will deploy troops there.

However, despite the explanations, Trump’s statement has stirred strong reactions in the international community. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a UN meeting on Tuesday that it’s essential to avoid any form of "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza. Most countries, including many US allies, strongly oppose the US taking over the Gaza Strip and insist that a two-state solution is the only viable path to peace between Palestine and Israel.

Trump's statement about taking over Gaza is unprecedented. Benjamin Radd, an expert at the Burkle Center for International Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), said the statement was inappropriate and goes against international law.

James Gelvin, professor of history at UCLA and an expert on the social, cultural and political history of the modern Middle East, said Trump's idea has no chance of success because it involves too many factors of race, culture, law, and security.

Brian Katulis, an expert at the US’s Middle East Institute, said the President's announcement was not serious.

“Most certainly there's no plan behind this. If there is, it's not a plan that has any connection to reality in today's Middle East, and certainly not in consultation with the Palestinians or neighboring countries, like Egypt and Jordan, which reject the first step in his plan which is to remove all the Palestinians of Gaza and put them in their countries,” he said. 

Risks for all sides

Although most comments point out that the US plan would face many legal obstacles and is at odds with the current geopolitical situation, some experts believe that if Trump is serious about the plan, it will be difficult to stop it.

Benjamin Radd said that, if Trump gets the support from Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, it would be possible forhim to turn Gaza into a ‘Riviera of the Middle East’, an international financial, service, and tourism hub like the Riviera in southern France and northern Italy.

Trump’s plan is receiving strong support from political parties in Israel. On Thursday, the Israeli government ordered the military to prepare for evacuating Palestinian civilians from the Gaza Strip.

The controversial proposal has threatened the Palestinian civilians in Gaza and has jeopardized the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement. Hopes of extending the ceasefire and completing the Qatar-brokered hostage exchange have faded. Arab countries have shifted their efforts to preventing Trump’s plan from becoming a reality.

“The Middle Eastern countries that have responded so far have been extremely negative. Saudi Arabia has come out, of course that we want a two-state solution. The Egyptians and Jordanians have several times said that they are not interested in taking in Palestinian refugees. It’s a non-starter as far as the world is concerned,” Professor Gelvin said.

The plan to take over Gaza also poses risks to the US. Experts say that, to take full control of Gaza, the US would need to deploy thousands of combat-ready soldiers and supporting equipment to maintain security there. This is something Trump said during his election campaign that he would avoid. The presence of a US military force in Gaza could provoke direct clashes with Hamas, Iran, and militia groups in the region, drawing the US into a new conflict.