Washington, Feb 6 (UNI) Top officials in the Donald Trump administration on Wednesday tried to walk back the president's remarks the previous day that the United States will "take over" the Gaza Strip and gain "long-term ownership position" in the enclave.
"The only thing President Trump has done, very generously, in my view, is offer the United States' willingness to step in, clear the debris, clean the place up from all the destruction that's on the ground, clean it up of all these unexploded munitions," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is on a visit in Guatemala, said at a news conference in Guatemala City alongside Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo.
Rubio said that "in the meantime, the people living there, the people who call that home will not be able to live there while you have crews coming in and removing debris, while you have munitions being removed, etc."
He acknowledged that the details of the proposal, which alarmed the world and was opposed by several Arab nations as well as U.S. allies in Europe, "would have to be worked out among multiple partner nations."
"Seriously, it was not meant as a hostile move," Rubio said. "It was meant as a, I think, a very generous move, the offer to rebuild and to be in charge of the rebuilding of a place many parts of which, right now, even if people move back, they would have nowhere to live safely, because there are still unexploded munitions and debris and rubble."
Rubio did not say whether or how Palestinians that would, as Trump suggested, be relocated elsewhere when the reconstruction in Gaza gets underway would ultimately be allowed to return to the region they call home.
Asked at a joint press conference Tuesday at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whether the United States would send troops into Gaza to cope with a "security vacuum" in the enclave, Trump said "if it's necessary, we'll do that."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to lower the media's anticipation of a certain U.S. military deployment in Gaza, repeatedly emphasizing to reporters during Wednesday's daily press briefing that "the president has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza."
On Trump having not ruled out the option of sending U.S. troops to Gaza, Leavitt said "the president is very good when he's making deals and negotiating, not to rule out anything because he wants to preserve that leverage in negotiations."
Leavitt also clarified to reporters that Trump's idea was for Gazans to be "temporarily relocated out of Gaza" for the rebuilding effort.
That explanation, however, seemed to differ from Trump's own words at Tuesday's news conference.
"I hope that we can do something where (Gazans) wouldn't want to go back - who would want to go back?" Trump said.
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