President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip, as on Monday (Apr 7), he told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it would be a "good thing". Trump said that Gaza could be turned into a "freedom zone" if you "take the people, the Palestinians, and you move them around to different countries". 

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Trump's plan was enthusiastically endorsed by Netanyahu. The same plan was often proposed in the first few weeks of Trump's government and has been widely denounced as a plan for ethnic cleansing. The president also stated that he hopes the fighting in Gaza will end soon. 

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Trump said, "...But, you, know, having a peace force like the United States there controlling and owning the Gaza Strip would be a good thing. Because right now, all it is is for years and years, all I hear about is killing and Hamas and problems." 

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"And if you take the people, the Palestinians, and move them around to different countries, and you have plenty of countries that will do that, and you really have a freedom zone. You call it the freedom zone. A free zone, a zone where people aren't going to be killed every day," he added. 

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Israel working on new hostage deal 

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Meanwhile, Trump and Netanyahu also said that new negotiations were in the works aimed at getting more hostages released from Hamas captivity in Gaza. 

"We're working now on another deal that we hope will succeed, and we're committed to getting all the hostages out," Netanyahu told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump, for his part, said: "We are trying very hard to get the hostages out. We're looking at another ceasefire, we'll see what happens."

Netanyahu added that "the hostages are in agony, and we want to get them all out" and further highlighted an earlier hostage release agreement negotiated in part by Trump's regional envoy Steve Witkoff. He said that deal "got 25 out." 

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Netanyahu's visit to the US came after the collapse of Israel's six-week truce with Palestinian group Hamas. The ceasefire ended with Israel's resumption of air strikes on Gaza on March 18. 

Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that triggered the Israeli invasion of Gaza. They even abducted Israeli people and took them to the Strip. Of the 251 hostages, 58 remain in captivity in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead. 

The recent truce had allowed the return of 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom were dead, in exchange for the release of some 1,800 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. 

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(With inputs from agencies) 

Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict after the Hamas attacks. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.