ISTANBUL

Israeli officials hailed on Wednesday a proposal by US President Donald Trump to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle Palestinians elsewhere.

Trump said during a news conference in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Tuesday that the US “will take over” Gaza after relocating Palestinians elsewhere under an extraordinary redevelopment plan that he claimed could turn the enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

Speaker of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) Amir Ohana called Trump’s plan "the dawn of a new day."

"This is what happens when two brave leaders meet," said Transportation Minister Miri Regev.

Benny Gantz, head of the opposition National Unity Party, said Trump’s remarks are "further proof of the deep alliance between the United States and Israel."

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Trump's proposal needs to be studied and understood.

Far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, a former national security minister who recently resigned from the government in opposition to the Gaza ceasefire deal, said he may return to the government in the wake of Trump's remarks.

Ben-Gvir, notorious for his anti-Palestinian slurs and for long calling for what he describes as the "voluntary migration" of Palestinians from Gaza, said there is no time for "petty politics," according to the Times of Israel newspaper.

No Palestinian state

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said Tel Aviv “will not agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state on Israeli-controlled territory but would accept one if an Arab country offered land for it,” according to Israel’s Army Radio.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also hailed Trump’s plan for taking over Gaza and relocating Palestinians.

“Now we will work to completely eliminate the dangerous idea of a Palestinian state,” he said in a video published by Israeli public broadcaster KAN.

Smotrich also urged his fellow members of Israel’s ruling coalition to reject any hostage exchange deal with Hamas or a ceasefire agreement in Gaza until achieving what he called “total victory” in the enclave.

Trump first triggered uproar on Jan. 25 by suggesting that Palestinians in Gaza should be relocated to Jordan and Egypt, calling the enclave a “demolition site” after Israel’s war. His proposal, however, was vehemently rejected by Amman and Cairo.

A six-nation Arab ministerial meeting in Cairo on Saturday firmly rejected Palestinian displacement from Gaza and renewed calls for implementing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump’s proposal came after the ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, suspending Israel’s genocidal war that has killed more than 47,500 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in November last year for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.