U.S. President Donald Trump wants Palestinians to temporarily leave Gaza while the area is being rebuilt, said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday.
A day earlier, President Trump sparked widespread reactions when he proposed, during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the United States take control of the war-damaged Gaza.
Trump’s idea “was not meant to be hostile. I think it was meant as a very generous move, an offer to rebuild and to be at the forefront of that reconstruction,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to Guatemala.
Trump offered “the U.S. readiness to intervene, clear the rubble, remove all the destruction on the ground, and clear it of all unexploded ordnance,” Rubio said.
“And during this time, the people who live there would not be able to stay there while work crews come in and remove the debris,” he added.
Rubio said that Trump wants to support “the rebuilding of homes, businesses, and things of that nature, so that people can eventually return.”
