President Donald Trump doubled down on his plans to forcibly remove the 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza, though he walked back from his threat to withhold billions in aid to Egypt and Jordan unless they assisted.
Sitting next to Jordanian King Abdullah II at a White House press conference, Trump said he was “above” threatening U.S. allies in order to facilitate his idea of expelling all Palestinians from Gaza. He also promised that taking over Gaza would come at no cost to Americans.
“There’s nothing to buy. We will have Gaza. No reason to buy. There is nothing to buy, it’s Gaza, it’s a war-torn area, we’re going to take it, we’re going to hold it, we’re going to cherish it,” Trump said.
For days, Trump has been repeating his vision of a Gaza free of Palestinians and placed under American control.
The Arab world has rejected the idea — especially the countries that Trump has singled out as potential hosts for the transplanted Palestinian population: Egypt and Jordan.
In the face of that resistance, Trump floated the idea of yanking the billions of dollars in military assistance and foreign aid sends to Egypt and Jordan, long viewed as the price the U.S. must pay to maintain those countries’ peace agreements with Israel.
The U.S. has sent Egypt billions in military aid since the signing of its 1979 peace treaty with Israel in the wake of the Camp David Accords. It currently sends Egypt $1.5 billion per year, mostly in the form of military aid.
“I don’t have to threaten with money.”
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