White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a briefing at the White House. AP
A day after Trump said "the US will take over" and "own" Gaza and that Palestinians would "go to other countries," the administration sought to downplay expectations.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Republican leader wanted Palestinians to be only "temporarily relocated" out of Gaza instead of permanently resettled in Arab-majority states like Egypt.
She also said the rebuilding of Gaza would not be paid for by the United States and that US troops were not likely to be sent.
"It's been made very clear to the president that the United States needs to be involved in this rebuilding effort to ensure stability in the region for all people," she said, according to AFP.
However, "that does not mean boots on the ground in Gaza, it does not mean American taxpayers will be funding this effort."
She said Trump has been "very clear" that "he expects our partners in the region, particularly Egypt and Jordan, to accept Palestinian refugees, temporarily, so that we can rebuild their home."
"It's a demolition site right now. It's not a livable place for any human being," she said.
Asked if the deployment of US troops into Gaza was being ruled out, Leavitt said: "The president has not committed to that just yet."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed the revised message, saying Trump's idea "was not meant as hostile. It was meant as, I think, a very generous move -- the offer to rebuild and to be in charge of the rebuilding."
Trump wants to support "rebuilding homes and businesses and things of this nature, so that then people can move back in," Rubio told reporters on a visit to Guatemala, accordingto AFP.
Outcry!
Trump's surprise announcement on Tuesday sparked intense pushback from Palestinian leadership and governments in the region and in Europe.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas "strongly rejected" Wednesday his US counterpart Donald Trump's proposal to "take over" and "own" the Gaza Strip.
"President Mahmud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership expressed their strong rejection of calls to seize the Gaza Strip and displace Palestinians outside their homeland," Abbas's office said in a statement, adding that "legitimate Palestinian rights are not negotiable".
Hamas on Wednesday also denounced US President Donald Trump's announced intentions to "take control" of the Gaza Strip and resettle Palestinians in other countries, calling it "racist" and aimed at eliminating the Palestinian cause.
On Tuesday evening, US President Trump, flanked by a war-mongering Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at a presser in the White House, announced a shocking colonialist plan for the United States to “take over” the Gaza Strip and permanently displace its native Palestinian population, drawing immediate regional and international condemnation.
Trump disclosed his plan days after proposing “relocating” and “cleaning out” more than two million Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab and Muslim countries, also drawing Arab and international condemnation.
Trump's wild proposal amid negotiations between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the US, to reach the "second phase" of a ceasefire deal that would bring a more permanent end to the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza.
Egypt, Jordan, Palestinians, and Arab countries rejected all of Trump's proposals to displace the Palestinian people from their homeland, reaffirming that the establishment of a Palestinian state on 4 June 1967 under a two-state solution is the only just solution to the Palestinian cause.
On Wednesday, in Cairo, Egypt's National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) has called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to adopt a resolution classifying recent proposals by President Donald Trump for the US seize Gaza and transfer the native Palestinian population to build a Middle Eastern Riviera — as a threat to international peace and security.
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