Trump plan: Take over Gaza, make it 'Riviera'

US President Donald Trump has declared that the US will take over the Gaza Strip and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East" while all Palestinians should permanently leave the land to "nice homes" in Egypt and Jordan.

- Prashant Jha

WASHINGTON:

He has also said that, within the next month, the US will take a position on Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.

The unprecedented US proposal on Gaza, which critics said amounted to a call for "ethnic cleansing", brought a huge smile to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, widely seen as the man responsible for the devastation of Gaza, while it sparked outrage across the Arab world.

Netanyahu was the first foreign leader to visit Trump at the White House since the new President took over.

Trump said the remarks about Gaza, which he made in the Oval Office when the two leaders met and later at a press conference, were not being made "lightly".