Calling the Gaza Strip "a demolition site right now," President Donald Trump suggested after his meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday that displaced Palestinians be "permanently" resettled outside the war-torn territory.
"If you look at Gaza, there's hardly a building standing and the ones that are, are going to collapse," Trump said during a press briefing alongside Netanyahu, the first foreign leader to visit Washington, D.C., since Trump took office Jan. 20. A portion of the briefing aired on Newsmax.
"You can't live in Gaza right now, Trump said, according to a C-SPAN video of the briefing. "We need another location, a location that's going to make people happy. It's all death in Gaza. This has been happening for years. It's all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people permanently in nice homes, and then they can be happy enough, not be shot, not be killed, not be knifed to death like what's happening in Gaza.
"Right now, you have in Gaza a very dangerous situation in terms of explosives all over the place. I believe we can do it in areas where leaders currently say no."
He added that if Gazans had an alternative, "they'd much rather not go back." He suggested Egypt and Jordan as possible destinations.
Trump said Saudi Arabia isn't demanding a Palestinian state as a precondition for normalization of ties with Israel, despite public remarks from Riyadh that show otherwise.
Trump responded, "no, they're not," when asked if Saudi Arabia is demanding a Palestinian state in exchange with normalizing ties with Israel and that "everyone is demanding one thing — peace."
"We have the right leader of Israel" to go forward on a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, Trump said, referring to Netanyahu.
Talks reportedly have started on the second phase of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists. The first phase of the ceasefire between began Jan. 19 after 15 months of war and involved a halt to fighting, the release of some of the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 72, 2023, terrorist attack, and the freeing of a large number of Palestinian prisoners.
The second phase of the three-phase deal is to focus on agreements on the release of the remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Netanyahu said he supports "getting all the hostages out and meeting all our war goals — that includes destroying Hamas' military and governing capabilities and making sure Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again."
He also took a veiled swipe at Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, when asked about the prospects of completing the rest of the phases in the ceasefire deal.
"When Israel and the United States work together and President Trump and I work together, the chances [for peace] go up a lot," Netanyahu said. "It's when we don't work together, Israel and the United States don't work together, that creates problems when the other side sees daylight between us and, occasionally in the last few years, to put in mind, then it's more difficult [for peace]."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE -- See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.