The National Times - Trump says Palestinians would 'love' to leave Gaza

They would "love to leave Gaza," he told reporters as he signed a raft of initiatives at the White House. "I would think that they would be thrilled."

"I don't know how they could want to stay. It's a demolition site," he said, more than 15 months after US ally Israel launched a punishing invasion of the territory in retaliation for attacks launched by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Trump spoke as he was due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the truce with Hamas. He is likely to urge his ally to stick to the deal, parts of which have yet to be finalized.

Trump has previously touted a plan to "clean out" Gaza, calling for Palestinians to move to Egypt or Jordan.

Both countries have flatly rejected this, and on Tuesday their leaders stressed "the need to commit to the united Arab position" that would help achieve peace, according to the Egyptian presidency.

"Well they may have said that, but a lot of people have said things to me," Trump told the journalists at the White House Tuesday.

Gazans have also denounced Trump's idea, with residents in the southern city of Rafah telling AFP "we will not leave."

But Trump appeared undettered.

"If we could find the right piece of land, or numerous pieces of land, and build them some really nice places, there's plenty of money in the area for sure, I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza, which has had just decades and decades of death," he said.

When a reporter pressed him on where such places might be, he suggested they could be in Jordan, Egypt or "other places. You could have more than two."

"You'd have people living in a place that could be very beautiful, and safe and nice. Gaza's been a disaster for decades."

When another journalist asked if the United States would pay for such a move, he said that there were "plenty of people that would in the area, they have a lot of money," and citing Saudi Arabia as one example.

"They have no alternative right now," he added, when an AFP journalist asked if such a move would amount to forcibly displacing Palestinians.

"They're there because they have no alternative. What do they have? It is a big pile of rubble right now.... I would think that they would be thrilled to do it."

"I think they'd love to leave Gaza," he said. "What is Gaza?"

He said he did "not necessarily" support Israelis moving into the area instead.

"I just support cleaning it up and doing something with it. But it's failed for many decades. And somebody will be sitting here in ten years or 20 years from now and they'll be going through the same stuff."

T.Ward--TNT