File photo: US President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive to hold a press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. AFP
In a Fox News interview aired late Saturday as the premier was wrapping up a visit to Washington, Netanyahu defended Trump's proposal, which has sparked concern and condemnation across the Middle East and the world.
"I think that President Trump's proposal is the first fresh idea in years, and it has the potential to change everything in Gaza," Netanyahu said, adding that it represents a "correct approach" to the future of the Palestinian territory.
"All Trump is saying, 'I want to open the gate and give them an option to relocate temporarily while we rebuild the place physically'," Netanyahu said.
Trump "never said he wants American troops to do the job. Guess what? We'll do the job," Netanyahu declared.
Israel seized the Gaza Strip in 1967 and maintained a military presence in the territory until 2005, when it pulled out settlers and its troops.
It subsequently imposed a crippling blockade on the territory and placed it under siege after the war began in October 2023.
Netanyahu said Trump's plan was a departure from the "same old, same old, same old -- we leave, Gaza becomes again occupied by these terrorists who use it as a base to attack Israel... It doesn't go anywhere."
"I think we should pursue it," he added, cautioning that "the real issue" was finding a country that would agree to take in displaced Gazans.
The Israeli Prime Minster also said that relocated Palestinians would have to "disavow terrorism" to be allowed to return to Gaza.
"Everybody describes Gaza as the biggest open-air prison in the world," Netanyahu said.
"Get the population out, allow them to leave. Not forcible eviction, not ethnic cleansing -- getting people out of what all these countries and all these do-gooders say is an open-air prison. Why are you keeping them in prison? ", he added.
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