WASHINGTON – The White House made clear on Wednesday that U.S. involvement in rebuilding Gaza does not mean a commitment to sending troops there or using tax dollars to fund the effort.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt fielded a question from NBC News Senior White House correspondent Garrett Haake early in the briefing after President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States would “take over the Gaza Strip.” Trump also said his vision included moving Gazans to nearby Arab nations, which Leavitt said Wednesday would be temporary.
Haake suggested that Trump’s vision could entail boots on the ground and “nation-building.”
“I would reject the premise of your question that this forces the United States to be entangled in conflicts abroad,” Leavitt said. “The President has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza. He has also said that the United States is not going to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza.”
She added that the administration would work with Middle East allies “to reconstruct this region.” Leavitt also emphasized that while it may be “an out-of-the-box idea,” the American people elected Trump because he thinks outside of the box.
“And let me just take a step back here because this is an out-of-the-box idea; that’s who President Trump is,” she said. “That’s why the American people elected him, and his goal is lasting peace in the Middle East for all people in the region.”
Leavitt added that American involvement means the president will use his deal-making prowess “to strike a deal with our partners in the region.”
Responding to a follow-up question, she noted that the president has spoken to leaders in the region about his expectation that “particularly Egypt and Jordan” will “accept Palestinian refugees temporarily so that we can rebuild their home.”
Trump has been mulling over this plan for a while, including since seeing images of rubble-ridden Gaza from Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff’s visit to the region last month, according to Leavitt.
