Washington, USA – President Donald Trump’s plan for the US to “take over”’ war-torn Gaza and create a ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ after resettling Palestinians elsewhere has sparked widespread criticism.

The shock move from Trump was swiftly condemned by international powers, with Saudi Arabia immediately rejecting the displacement of Palestinians, adding that it would not establish diplomatic relations with Israel – a long-term US foreign policy goal – without an independent Palestinian state.

Germany, Britain and France reiterated their stances for a two-state solution.

Far-right Israeli leaders applauded plans to permanently displace Palestinians from Gaza, while the Hamas group said it would ‘pour oil on the fire’.

Trump’s suggestion came at a White House news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where the president detailed a plan to build new settlements for Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip, and for the US to take “ownership” in redeveloping the war-torn territory into the Riviera of the Middle East. “The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said it would warrant “a serious violation of international law”. He called for the United Nations to protect the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights, saying that what Trump wanted to do would be a serious violation of international law.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that Palestinians should be able to “live and prosper in their homelands”. Speaking at a conference in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, Lammy said, “We must see Palestinians able to live and prosper in their homelands in Gaza, in the West Bank. That is what we want to get to.”

He said the UK would play its part in reconstructing Gaza, levelled by months of conflict, alongside the Palestinian authorities, and Gulf and Arab partners. “That’s the guarantee that we all need to ensure that there is a future for Palestinians in their homeland.”

In response to Trump’s comments, the French Foreign Ministry said that displacing Gaza’s Palestinians ‘would constitute a grave violation of international law, an attack on the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians, a major threat to the two-state solution and a factor of major destabilisation for our close partners Egypt and Jordan as well as the entire region’.

‘France also remains strongly opposed to Israeli settlements and any unilateral annexation of the West Bank,’ it said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, a staunch ally of Israel, said, “It is clear that Gaza – along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem – belongs to the Palestinians. They form the starting point for a future state of Palestine.”

“Displacement of the Palestinian civilian population from Gaza would not just be unacceptable and against international law,” the German minister said in a statement. “This would also lead to new suffering and new hatred.” She said that there must not be a solution “over the heads of the Palestinians” and a negotiated two-state solution remains the only one.

China opposed the forced relocation of people in Gaza, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in Beijing when asked about Trump’s comments. “China has always believed that Palestinian rule is the basic principle of post-war governance in Gaza,” said spokesperson Lin Jian. He reiterated Beijing’s longstanding support for a two-state solution in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Mohammed al Bukhaiti, a leader of Yemen’s Houthi group, wrote on the social platform X that Trump’s remarks represented American arrogance that will subsume all if it is met with submission from the Arabs.

“If Egypt or Jordan or both decide to challenge America, Yemen will stand with all its strength by its side, to the furthest extent and without red lines,” he added.

“Palestinians must be allowed a home. They must be allowed to rebuild, and we should be with them in that rebuild on the way to a two-state solution” – Keir Starmer, UK Prime Minister

“The issue of deportations from Gaza is not something that either the region or we would accept. Even thinking about it is wrong and absurd” – Hakan Fidan, Turkish Foreign Minister

“What he proposes is nonsense. The international community is made up of 193 states and this is the time to give the US what it has been looking for: Isolation” – Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur

“Gaza is their home. Gaza’s death and destruction is a result of the government of Israel killing civilians by the thousands, often with US bombs” – Paul O’Brien, Amnesty International US

Agencies