I am firmly determined to buy and own Gaza, Trump said to reporters in connection with his trip to the Super Bowl sports event.
He described it further as the responsibility for rebuilding the war-torn Gaza could be shared with other countries, but under American supervision.
But we are firmly determined to own it, take it, and make sure Hamas does not move back. There is nothing to move back to. The place is a demolition site. What remains will be demolished.
Says he has support
Trump claims that Arab countries would agree to accept the Gaza Strip's population as refugees after talking to him. Earlier, he mentioned Egypt and Jordan, but those countries have so far rejected this outwardly.
Trump further claims that Palestinians would want to leave the Palestinian area of their own free will, which there is little to suggest.
Among Palestinians, parallels are mainly drawn to al-Nakba, "the catastrophe", when hundreds of thousands of them were forced from their homes in connection with the founding of the state of Israel. Millions of Palestinians have lived as formal refugees in the region and in surrounding neighboring countries for many decades.
Gaza is not a vacant lot that can be sold and bought. It is an essential part of our occupied Palestinian land, says Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas' governing political bureau, to Reuters.
The deputy leader of the political bureau, Khalil al-Hayya, says that "the Western world's, the US's, and Trump's project" is doomed to fail.
"Hold Israel accountable"
Trump's proposal has been rejected on a broad front by Palestinian leaders. The secular al-Fatah, which governs on the West Bank, has stated that it is not negotiable to expel Palestinians from their homes. Among Palestinians on the ground, both concern and anger have been expressed.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says on Monday that no one should force the Palestinian people into a new al-Nakba, a new catastrophe:
Israel's government must first be held accountable for the destruction it has caused, he says according to Turkish state media.
Egypt has announced that the country will host an emergency summit with Arab countries on February 27 to discuss the "new and dangerous development".
Israel's government, on the other hand, has hailed Trump's plan: "A revolutionary, creative vision", said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his cabinet on Sunday.
