Senator James Lankford (R-OK) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the United States was “not taking over Gaza by any means.”

Host Kristen Welker said, “Do you support President Trump’s plans for the U.S. to take over and develop Gaza?”

Lankford said, “We’re not taking over Gaza by any means. This is not America’s responsibility to be able to take over Gaza and be able to run it. There are other countries that support Palestinians and don’t support Palestinians moving to their country, but you have 2 million people there, many of them civilians that are totally innocent, have nothing to do with Hamas, and they’re living in a debris field there and the Israelis are getting food boxes in and delivering in a different way and trying to have the Gulf states and others to come in and rebuild in that area.”

He added, “It’s important on the humanitarian side of things, and it’s important that Gaza cannot run or Hamas cannot run Gaza, and we cannot have terrorists living right there, and we certainly cannot have Hamas continue to hold Israeli hostages.”

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