In major policy shift, Trump says the US should take over Gaza and does not rule out using US troops

 WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, proposing a major shift in Middle East policy, called for the U.S. to take over the Gaza Strip and relocate roughly two million Palestinians to neighboring Arab countries. His goal, he said, is to turn the war-ravaged enclave into the "Riviera of the Middle East."

The statement escalates a proposal he made a week ago, when Trump said he wanted to "clean out" the seaside enclave and send all its residents to Egypt and Jordan.

''We'll own it," Trump said in a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first White House meeting. "Level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area."

Trump pushes to resettle Palestinians in neighboring countries 

A ceasefire deal agreed upon in January between Israel and Hamas – and which a Trump official helped broker – calls for a three- to five-year reconstruction phase in Gaza. But senior officials in the Trump administration now say it’s likely to take much longer.

Officials said Tuesday that it will take at least 10 to 15 years, and Trump is looking for solutions that will allow the more than 2 million Palestinians who currently reside there to live as normal lives as possible.

The "Gaza thing has not worked – it's never worked," Trump said. Palestinians, he said, "should get a good, fresh, beautiful piece of land, and we get some people to put up the money to build it and make it nice and make it habitable and enjoyable. If we could find the right piece of land, or numerous pieces of land, and build them some really nice places, with plenty of money in the area, that's for sure, I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza."