Behind Trump's Desire to Annex the Gaza Strip

United States President Donald Trump has once again made a major surprise, following the previous surprise on January 25, 2025, when he raised the issue of relocating the 2.3 million residents of Gaza to Egypt and Jordan. In a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, Trump revealed the US ambition to annex the Gaza Strip after relocating the residents of the Gaza Strip to other countries.

On that occasion, Trump surprisingly stated that the US wants to take control of the Gaza Strip in the form of long-term ownership and will undertake projects in the area. "We will carry out economic development in the Gaza Strip aimed at creating many jobs and housing for the residents of the area," he said.

The issue of the Gaza Strip dominated the statements and Q&A with journalists during the press conference at the White House, Washington DC, USA. This indicates that the Gaza issue is currently a priority for Trump and Netanyahu. Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to be received by Trump at the White House after Trump's inauguration as president on January 20, 2025.

Trump also expressed his desire to turn the Gaza Strip, after being controlled by the US, into the Riviera of the Middle East—referring to the resort beach area in southeastern France.

Trump also stated that it is not impossible to place US troops in the Gaza Strip to participate in the Gaza Strip development project after the relocation of Gaza Strip residents to another country. Recently, Trump seemed to correct his own statement by saying that Israel would hand over the Gaza Strip to the US after the war, so US troops would not need to be deployed to the area.

In an effort to smooth the US project of annexing the Gaza Strip, Trump claimed that the solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would be achieved by the departure of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and that other countries, including Egypt and Jordan, would accept the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

"There are several world leaders who have communicated with me and they have said they are willing to accommodate the people of Gaza," Trump said again.

In the press conference, Trump did not mention the name of the country that would be willing to accommodate Palestinian residents from the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Egypt and Jordan have strongly rejected the initiative to relocate Gaza Strip residents to these two Arab countries.

The UN and a number of European countries, such as Spain, Britain and Germany, have also criticized Trump's idea to relocate Gazans to Egypt and Jordan.

In an effort to make Trump's initiative to relocate Gazans to other countries a success, Trump's Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff said the points in the third phase of Hamas-Israel ceasefire talks need to be reviewed.

As is understood, the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel will last in three stages. Each stage will last 42 days. The first and second stages will involve a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas as well as the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip.

Among the points in the third phase, it is mentioned the reconstruction project of the Gaza Strip for five years under the supervision of the UN, Egypt and Qatar. Witkoff said, it is ridiculous to still believe that the Gaza Strip will still be habitable in the next five years.

He stressed that the problem of relocation of Gazans is still a problem, but a solution will be sought. US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz also said that the reconstruction project of the Gaza Strip will take 10 to 15 years.

Given Donald Trump's background as a businessman, the US initiative to annex the Gaza Strip is not surprising. Trump's initiative was preceded by the US's move to build a sea route and floating port in the Gaza Strip as a route and entry point for humanitarian aid.

US President Joe Biden on March 8, 2024 issued instructions to the US armed forces to build a floating port in the Gaza Strip to serve as a place to distribute humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

A number of observers in the Middle East at that time doubted the sincerity of the US intention to build a floating port in the Gaza Strip. The US's move to build a sea route and a floating port in the Gaza Strip must have an ulterior motive, namely wanting to control the economic potential of the Gaza Strip.

The belief that there must be a catch, of course, grew stronger after Trump floated the idea of annexing the Gaza Strip, not just building a floating port, as in President Joe Biden's time. Trump, with a background as a businessman, already had a business calculation because he already knew about the Gaza Strip's quite large economic potential.

As is known off the coast of Gaza, the Marine gas field was discovered which is a Palestinian wealth asset. The Marine gas field has gas reserves of 1.1 trillion cubic meters.

In June 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for cooperation between Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority to operate the Marine gas field to help revive the Palestinian economy.

The Marine gas field is part of a series of very large gas fields discovered in the eastern Mediterranean region since 2012.

Trump, with his very strong business sense, of course, sees the devastated Gaza Strip as an opportunity to expel its inhabitants. The evacuation of the Gaza Strip of its inhabitants is to pave the way for a permanent US presence in the Gaza Strip and the gas-rich eastern Mediterranean.

The US has been competing with Qatar and Australia as the largest natural gas exporter. The US exported 88.9 million tons of natural gas in 2023.

If the US controls the Gaza Strip, there is an opportunity to surpass Qatar and Australia in the production and export of natural gas. That is the economic issue that is one of the main factors behind Trump's surprising announcement of wanting to annex the Gaza Strip.

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Musthafa Abd Rahman, journalist for Kompas 1991-2022