Washington: The White House has said that President Donald Trump had not committed any funds for his proposal for the US to take over Gaza or deploy troops there for that purpose. Senior officials of the Trump administration also sought to make clear President Trump was not talking about indefinitely occupying Gaza as he seemed to have suggested in a news conference on Tuesday alongside visiting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The President has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the daily briefing. "He has also said that the United States is not going to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza. His administration is going to work with our partners in the region to reconstruct this region."
Leavitt went on to describe the proposal as an "out-of-box idea" characteristic of the President whose goal was to bring "lasting peace" in West Asia. According to US media reports the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Guatemala that Trump was only proposing to clear out and rebuild Gaza and not claim indefinite possession of the territory.
Addressing a news conference with Netanyahu, Trump argued in his proposal that Gaza is currently unliveable and that it is a "demolition site" because of the Israeli military action since the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas and that they should be sheltered temporarily in neighboring countries such as Egypt and Jordan while Gaza is rebuilt.
Birthright citizenship order faces second legal setbackCalling citizenship a “most precious right”, US District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a nationwide pause on an executive order to end birthright citizenship for children born to parents who entered the US illegally. The move came after two immigrant rights groups and five pregnant women who argued that their children were at risk of being unconstitutionally denied US citizenship based on their parents' immigration status, Reuters reported. Boardman said that only a nationwide injunction on the order could provide relief to the plaintiffs in the case, adding that citizenship is a “national concern that demands a uniform policy.” |
