WATCH: Rubio insists relocation of Palestinians from Gaza would be temporary at news conference with Dominican president (original) (raw)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemingly contradicted President Donald Trump on Thursday when talking about the proposal for the U.S. to take over Gaza and relocate Palestinians from the territory, insisting that would just be a temporary move.

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“I think that’s just a realistic reality that in order to fix a place like that, people are going to have to live somewhere else in the interim,” Rubio said in a press conference in Santo Domingo with Dominican President Luis Abinader. He said it was “not habitable.”

The U.S. top diplomat and other Trump administration officials has attempted to walk back the idea the president wants the permanent relocation of Palestinians from Gaza.

But Trump earlier on Thursday took to his social media platform to insist the U.S. could take over Gaza without needing to send in troops and that Palestinians would be resettled elsewhere in the region with new and modern homes and “would actually have a chance to be happy, safe and free.”