In conjunction with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House on Tuesday, Donald Trump said he had a plan to expel the 1.8 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and create “economic development” there to “build many jobs and homes for the people of the region.” Despite numerous condemnations, the President of the United States reiterates his intention in a message posted on the Truth Social network: "Palestinians will move to more beautiful and safe places."

The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, immediately criticized the new White House tenant in a press conference in front of journalists:“Our land is our land. Palestinians want to rebuild Gaza because they have schools, hospitals, infrastructure, they belong there and they love to live there." For his part, the spokesman of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, reminds Trump that forcing people to move from an occupied territory is "strictly prohibited" in international law.

As for U.S. politicians, many congressmen in the Democratic Party have raised their voices against Trump’s statements, according to Al Jazeera. For example, the Palestinian-American Rashid Tlaib considers the US president’s plan to be a “proclamation of ethnic cleansing” and Eric Swalwell denounces the “hypocrisy” of Trump’s election campaign: "We were told there would be no war, and now we have to occupy Gaza?"

Division also among Republicans

Among the politicians of the Republican Party, the voices of both sides have been highlighted in Trump’s declared intention to turn Gaza into the new “Riviera” of the Middle East:Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the proposal aims to promote "peace" in the region to make Gaza "beautiful again". Also, Republican Senator Rand Paul of the State of Kentucky has said that there is no need to occupy a territory: "I thought we voted America First."