President Donald Trump said on February 4, 2025 that the United States will take over and own the Gaza Strip, adding that "the same people" should not be in charge of rebuilding and occupying the land.

Trump unveiled his surprise plan, without providing specifics, at a joint press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"I think he is just making things up off the cuff," said Brian Katulis of the Middle East Institute. "It is not a plan that has any connection to reality," he told Reuters TV.

The announcement followed Trump's shock proposal earlier in the day for the permanent resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries, calling the enclave - where the first phase of a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire is in effect - a "demolition site."

"The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too," Trump told reporters. "We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site."

(Production: Deborah Lutterbeck, Arlene Eiras)