US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday defended former President Donald Trump's proposal for the US to "take over" the Gaza Strip, describing it as a "very generous" offer aimed at rebuilding the war-torn enclave.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo in Guatemala City, Rubio addressed Trump's controversial offer to transform Gaza into a "Riviera of the Middle East," a proposal that sent shockwaves across the region and beyond.
"What President Trump said yesterday is an acknowledgment of the following: Gaza has been severely damaged," Rubio stated. "The billions of dollars that are going to be required for reconstruction are enormous. Some areas have been rendered unlivable now and for the foreseeable future."
He emphasized that Trump's offer is not a "hostile move" but a "generous" offer to take responsibility for reconstruction of Gaza, noting that no other country has made a similar pledge.
"And while you are rebuilding, while you're clearing debris, by the way, there are unexploded munitions, there are all kinds of Hamas weaponry still buried underground. For people to be able to live in a place safely. All of that has to be removed. It is an enormous undertaking," he said.
"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, to clean it up of all these unexploded munitions," he said.
"In the meantime, the people living there will not be able... to live there while you have crews coming in and removing debris, while you have munitions being removed, etc. That's the offer that he's made," he explained.
He added that the details of Trump's plan, if accepted, "would have to be worked out among multiple partner nations".
"It's a unique offer, one that no other country in the world has stepped up and made an offer," he added.
"It was not meant as a hostile move. It was meant as a, I think, a very generous move, the offer to rebuild and to be in charge of the rebuilding," he added.
Trump's proposal to relocate Palestinians in Gaza first came after a ceasefire agreement took effect in the enclave on Jan. 19, suspending Israel's genocidal war that has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.
The "US will take over" Gaza, he told a news conference Tuesday evening alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He repeated that the Gazan population should be moved to countries like Jordan and Egypt, with the US turning the land into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
