President Trump on Thursday suggested the U.S. would look to take control of the Gaza Strip and turn it into a “freedom zone,” highlighting one of his more controversial foreign policy proposals during a visit to Qatar.
“I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good. Make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved, and make it just a freedom zone” Trump said during a business roundtable.
“I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone, let some good things happen. Put people in homes where they can be safe, and Hamas is going to have to be dealt with,” Trump added.
Qatar has played host to periodic ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas in an attempt to stop the fighting between the two sides but so far negotiations have been at a stalemate as bombings continue.
The president earlier this year first proposed the idea of the U.S. taking control of Gaza, which has been devastated by Israeli military strikes as it carries out its campaign against Hamas following October 2023 terrorist attacks by the group that killed more than 1,000 Israelis.
Trump has previously suggested Palestinians living in Gaza would relocate elsewhere in the region while the U.S. rebuilt the strip. He has brushed off questions about how the U.S. would takeover the territory, though he previously floated that Israel would turn it over at the conclusion of its war with Hamas.
The idea has drawn pushback from the head of the Palestinian National Authority, as well as from U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia.
