Witkoff: 'Physically impossible' to rebuild Gaza in 5 years

Hosting PM, Trump urges permanent relocation of all Gazans: ‘That place has been hell’

In Oval Office remarks, US president suggests ‘we could do something really beautiful’ for Gazans so ‘they wouldn’t want to return’; says Saudis not demanding Palestinian state for normalization

US President Donald Trump, right, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, February 4, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)
US President Donald Trump, right, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, February 4, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)

WASHINGTON — Hosting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump reinforced his call to resettle the people of Gaza, suggesting they all relocate permanently, as he also expressed confidence that the ceasefire and hostage deal in the enclave could advance to completion.

“I think that Gaza is a demolition site right now,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, with Netanyahu seated beside him, ahead of their high-stakes meeting on the future of the region.

“If you look at Gaza, there’s hardly a building standing. And the ones that are, are going to collapse. You can’t live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location, a location that’s going to make people happy.”

The US leader asserted that multiple countries had expressed interest in taking in Palestinians from the war-torn Gaza Strip.

“It’s all death in Gaza,” he continued. “This has been happening for years. It’s all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people permanently in nice homes, and then they can be happy enough, not be shot, not be killed, not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza. Right now you have in Gaza a very dangerous situation in terms of explosives all over the place.”

“I believe we can do it in areas where leaders currently say no,” he added. Arab countries have formed a united front rejecting any plan to resettle Gazans.

Asked if he thought residents of Gaza would want to leave, he argued that if they had an alternative, “they’d much rather not go back.”

“It would be my hope that we could do something really nice, really beautiful, where they wouldn’t want to return,” said Trump. “Why would they want to return? That place has been hell.”

US President Donald Trump, right, meets with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/ AFP)

Asked how many Gazans he is thinking of relocating, he said, “All of them. We’re talking about probably a million [point] seven, maybe a million eight. But I think all of them. They’ll be resettled in areas where they can live a beautiful life and not be worried about dying every day.”

He said money for the project will come from “other people, really rich nations and they’re willing to supply it.”

“It could be Jordan and it could be Egypt and it could be other countries.”

It could be four, five or six separate locations, he added. “Gaza is a guarantee they’re going to end up dying. The same thing is going to happen again, over and over again.”

At the same time, Trump indicated he did not support Israel rebuilding Jewish settlements in Gaza. “I don’t see it happening. It’s too dangerous for people. No one wants to be there. Their warriors don’t want to be there. Their soldiers don’t want to be there.”

US President Donald Trump points during a meeting with Israel’s prime minister in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri condemned Trump’s calls for Gazans to leave as “expulsion from their land.”

“We consider them a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass,” Abu Zuhri said.

Trump declined to commit to supporting a Palestinian state, as he did in his previous term. “A lot of plans change with time,” he said when asked about his 2020 plan that did make that provision. “A lot of death has occurred since I left and now came back. Now we are faced with a situation that’s different. In some ways better, in some ways worse.”

The US president also indicated he may not support the Palestinian Authority ruling Gaza after the war, in what would be a break from the previous administration and most of the international community.

“Well, it has had a pretty hard time, wouldn’t you say?” Trump responded when asked if the PA can rule Gaza. “It’s had a pretty bad time of it,” he added, without elaborating.

The PA currently has limited sovereignty in the West Bank and is seeking to return to Gaza, from which Hamas ousted it in 2007. Israel has adamantly rejected any role for the PA in managing postwar Gaza.

Asked whether he believed Israel and Hamas could reach an agreement on a second phase of a ceasefire, Trump said: “Sure, why wouldn’t a deal get done? A deal can get done. We’ll see what happens.

Israel and Hamas last month agreed on the first phase of the ceasefire deal, with talks on a potential second and third stage only now beginning, and Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition allies putting massive pressure on him to resume the fighting when the first stage concludes at the end of this month.

“We’re dealing with very complicated people,” Trump said, “but a deal can absolutely get done.”

Netanyahu said “We’re going to try” when asked how optimistic he was about moving on to phase two.

US President Donald Trump, right, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House, February 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Netanyahu said he supported “getting all the hostages out and meeting all our war goals — that includes destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities and making sure Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again.”

“When Israel and the United States work together, and President Trump and I work together, the chances go up a lot,” Netanyahu said. “When the other side sees daylight between us — and occasionally in the last few years, to put it mildly, they saw daylight — then it’s more difficult.”

Turning to his desire to expand the Abraham Accords, Trump said Saudi Arabia was not demanding a Palestinian state as a precondition for normalization with Israel. This has thus far been a clear condition in public remarks by Riyadh.

Asked whether Riyadh is asking for at least a path toward a Palestinian state, Trump said that “everyone is demanding one thing — peace.”

“We have the right leader of Israel” to go forward on a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, Trump said.

When a reporter wondered whether Trump planned to capitalize on Iran’s current weakness following setbacks in Lebanon, Syria and more, Trump took exception to the notion, as he repeated his view that the previous administration’s policies had bolstered Tehran.

“They’re not weak. They’re very strong right now, and we’re not going to allow them to have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple,” he said.

The pair later held a joint press conference, during which Trump said the US would “take over” Gaza to develop before turning the enclave into an “international” area.

US President Donald Trump, left, greets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives at the North Portico of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2025. (Jim WATSON / AFP)

A united front

Ahead of the meeting, a senior US official said the two would discuss the transition to phase two of a hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza, adding that listeners should expect “some unity in how [Israel and the US] intend to pursue that.”

Netanyahu has been seeking a public assurance from Trump that the US will back Israel resuming the war if Hamas violates the terms of the ceasefire or doesn’t hold negotiations regarding the terms of the second phase in good faith, a senior Israeli official has told The Times of Israel.

In a briefing to reporters, a second senior administration noted that both US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have made clear publicly that Hamas cannot be allowed to govern Gaza — a stance that may well complicate the phase two negotiations, given the terror group is currently governing the Strip, even though its military infrastructure has been largely dismantled by Israel.

The senior Trump official noted that not only are Israel and the US in agreement on the need to remove Hamas from power, but so are many of their Arab allies in the region.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second from right, sits down with top advisers at Blair House in Washington, DC, to prepare for his meeting with US President Donald Trump later in the day, February 4, 2025. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

The position will require Hamas to voluntarily cede power — something that some of its officials have indicated the terrorist organization might be willing to do. What Hamas has shown less willingness to relinquish is its weapons, ostensibly hoping to mimic what Hezbollah did in Lebanon for many years, where it wasn’t formally leading the government but de facto ran much of the country due to its military superiority over the army.

Hostages must return, Hamas must not

The first official said that Trump “is extremely focused on getting all hostages out and also ensuring that Hamas cannot continue to govern and is not in power.

“Beyond that, the administration will be looking toward building on the end of the Gaza war, ultimately to promote regional normalization,” the official added.

The second official noted that the administration aims to expand the Abraham Accords beyond just an Israel-Saudi normalization agreement.

Members of Hamas’s military wing attend the funeral of Hamas military council member Ghazi Abu Tamaa, at the Al-Hajj Musa Mosque in Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, February 4, 2025. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)

However, the official clarified that “it’s not going to happen overnight,” even though it will be at the top of the agenda.

A third official told The Times of Israel that Trump’s desire to see all of the remaining hostages released should not be “misconstrued” as a willingness to allow Hamas to remain in control of Gaza.

Asked how the two positions can be reconciled, given that the second phase of the ongoing hostage deal envisions an end to the war in exchange for Hamas releasing the remaining living hostages, the US official said the issue would be discussed in the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

Separately, a senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel that while Hamas is willing to cede civilian control over Gaza, it is unlikely to give up its weapons.

Displaced Palestinians return to their homes in northern Gaza as part of a hostage-ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas on January 29, 2025. (Khalil Kahlout/Flash90)

“Israel will have to decide whether this is sufficient — at least for now — if it wants the remaining hostages back,” the diplomat said.

Meanwhile, a senior member of Netanyahu’s entourage said outside the White House that talks with senior US officials over the past day have focused on the “smooth completion” of the ongoing first phase of the hostage deal.

“We still have hostages we are trying to get out, and we are still concerned Hamas will try some trick,” the official said. The sides did not discuss a possible extension of phase one, said the aide, “but it may be we won’t oppose it.”

“It is clear to everyone that Hamas won’t be in Gaza,” the official continued. “What is clear is it won’t be Hamas and it won’t be the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. There is understanding from the Americans on this issue.”

Hamas gunmen ride Toyota pick-up trucks through Gaza City ahead of the release of Israeli hostages on February 1, 2025 (Reuters screenshot)

Palestinian relocation

Pressed on Tuesday to respond to Egypt’s and Jordan’s rejection of Trump’s call for them to take in Palestinians from Gaza, Waltz, the national security adviser, told reporters that Washington expects to work with them and other allies to advance “practical solutions.”

“We’re looking to a number of our allies and partners in the region. We have to collectively solve this problem,” Waltz told reporters outside the White House along with US envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff.

“Everyone’s heart breaks for this war that Hamas started and for what has happened to these people who Hamas was willing to sacrifice to turn global opinion against Israel, but now we have to collectively come up with some solutions,” he added.

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, February 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Waltz noted that Jordan’s King Abdullah will be visiting the White House next week and that Trump spoke on Saturday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

“President Trump is driving practical, common sense solutions to what is admittedly a very, very difficult situation,” he said.

A Palestinian woman hangs laundry as children climb debris in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 4, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Time to rebuild, time for new deals

Witkoff criticized the framework of the ceasefire and hostage release plan put together by the previous administration, taking particular issue with the proposal’s envisioning of a five-year reconstruction period for Gaza.

“Part of the problem is that it wasn’t such a wonderful agreement that was first signed. That was not dictated by the Trump administration. We had nothing to do with it. Now we’re working within that rubric, and we’re figuring things out,” Witkoff told reporters outside the White House.

“What [I] and the national security adviser are identifying — which, by the way, President Trump identified — is that phase three, the reconstruction, is not going to go the way that the agreement talks about, which is a five-year program. It’s physically impossible. We’re trying to be transparent with these people,” he said.

US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff (L) and US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz (R) speak to reporters outside of the West Wing of the White House on February 4, 2025, in Washington, DC. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

“In any city in the USA, if you had damage that was 1/100th of what I saw in Gaza… nobody would be allowed to go back to their homes. That’s how dangerous it is,” Witkoff explained.

“There are 30,000 unexploded munitions; there are buildings that could tip over at any moment; there are no utilities there whatsoever; no working water, electric, gas — nothing. God knows what kind of disease might be festering there,” he continued.

In comments that appeared to contradict Trump’s later statements, Witkoff said: “When the president talks about ‘cleaning [Gaza] out,’ he talks about making it habitable.”

“We estimate that the disposal effort alone in Gaza [will take] three to five years… before… you get a master plan done,” he said. “The president is intent on getting it all done correctly. To me, it is unfair to have explained to Palestinians that they might be back in five years. That’s just preposterous.”

Vehicles line up along the Salah a-Din road in Nuseirat near the Netzarim Corridor while waiting to cross to the northern part of the Gaza Strip on January 27, 2025. (Eyad Baba / AFP)

Waltz praised Netanyahu’s handling of the war, saying the military operations he authorized throughout the region have created opportunities to advance peace.

While Tuesday’s White House meeting is focused on the future of Gaza, “there’s so many opportunities now in the region, largely thanks to Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israeli leadership,” he said, pointing to the new leadership in Lebanon, the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria and the weakening of Iran.

“There’s a lot of opportunity in the region, and there is real optimism,” Waltz said. “The next round of the Abraham Accords — that’s the goal.

“If we’re talking, in President Trump’s term, about rail projects, fiber optics, data centers, energy and getting back to the peace that he had in his first term, then that is a transformative success only President Trump could [deliver],” he added.

Displaced Palestinians arrive in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)

Protests by families

Ahead of the meeting, dozens of Israelis, including hostage Matan Zangauker’s mother and girlfriend, held a rally outside the White House calling on Trump to ensure Netanyahu sticks to the hostage deal.

Zangauker’s mother Einav and his girlfriend Ilana Gritzewsky — herself a former hostage released during the November 2023 hostage deal — addressed the crowd.

“Dear President Trump, I want to personally thank you for your commitment to freeing our hostages and ending the war,” Zangauker said into a megaphone.

“I am here as a deeply concerned mother who wants to hold her son again… a mother who expected her prime minister to do everything he can to free Israeli hostages. But instead, [Netanyahu] made excuses and favored political considerations [over making a] deal,” she said.

“The extremists in the government are trying to sabotage the agreement, but we will not give up and we will not leave a single hostage behind,” she added, referring to Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners who have threatened to collapse the government if he doesn’t resume fighting against Hamas after the first phase ends.

Reflecting on her time in captivity, Gritzewsky told the crowd: “I know what [Matan] is going through right now — the silence, the helplessness, the terror of waking up every day wondering if today will be the day we will die, or the day the world will forget us.”

Hostage Matan Zangauker’s girlfriend Ilana Gritzewsky, right, and mother Einav Zangauker speak at a rally outside the White House ahead of US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, February 4, 2025. (Liri Agami/Flash90)

“President Trump, I know you don’t walk away. I know you don’t stop until the job is done, and that’s why I’m begging you — not as a politician, but as someone who has already shown the world what true leadership looks like: Please don’t stop now,” said Gritzewsky, who was wearing the hat her boyfriend had on when he was taken captive on October 7, 2023, which she has worn every day since her release.

“If this deal falls apart, the hostages will die. It is not a metaphor. It is true. You know it, I know it, and you are the only one who can stop it from happening. Please, President Trump, don’t let them be forgotten. Don’t let Matan die in darkness. You have already done the impossible. Now I’m begging you — finish what you started.”

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