WASHINGTON — President Trump’s threat to take over the Gaza Strip is not a “bluff,” sources close to the White House told The Post Thursday.
“The president is absolutely serious,” one White House official stressed.
The conversations have been in the works for months, meaning Trump was negotiating a solution for the Hamas-controlled land strip at war with Israel before his term began.
Steve Witkoff — Trump’s Middle East envoy — has played an influential part in the planning, a second source familiar with the internal discussions on the matter said, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed.
Witkoff developed his longtime friendship with Trump making billions in real estate investing and development in New York City. He traveled to Israel to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the final days of the Biden administration, which the Trump administration says played a key part in securing a hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas.
“Absolutely” Trump would be willing to take US control of Gaza, the source said.
“If that’s what it takes. He’s also creating a sense of urgency to end the status quo. And if Gulf States don’t like his plan then they should come up with their own and take more ownership of the situation. But the fact is that the status quo is a disaster,” the source added.
Trump’s announcement to relocate all Palestinians, take over Gaza and develop the land to create a “Riviera of the Middle East” on the Mediterranean came as a surprise to Washington — but the White House has maintained that the thoughts were being planned out behind the scenes before the president made his announcement on Tuesday.
It was Trump who presented the plan to take over Gaza to Netanyahu, Leavitt told The Post at Wednesday’s White House briefing.
Some Republicans have raised eyebrows at the possibility of getting entangled in a foreign conflict and putting American troops in harm’s way in the Middle East. Trump first said he would not rule out putting US boots on the ground, but then said, “no soldiers by the US would be needed.”
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting. The Palestinians, people like Chuck Schumer, would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free. The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth,” he added.
“No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”
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