Donald Trump has asserted that his strategy for “taking control of Gaza” will not accommodate a right of return for over 2 million Palestinians, who he claims have “no choice” but to depart due to the extensive damage inflicted by Israel’s military actions.

These statements represent another troubling endorsement of ethnic cleansing from the U.S. president, who revealed his proposal last week during a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, prompting outrage across the Arab community and surprising even his closest advisers.

In an interview with Fox’s Bret Baier, Trump declared that he would “own” the Gaza Strip and described it as a “real estate development for the future.”

He simultaneously promoted the idea of relocating Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan, a proposal that has been firmly rejected by both nations and dismissed as unfeasible by major Arab countries.

Trump suggested establishing up to six new living sites for Palestinians outside Gaza, effectively proposing permanent refugee camps funded by the U.S. president.

When asked if Palestinians would be allowed to return to Gaza, Trump responded, “No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing.”

“It could be five, six, or maybe just two,” he noted. “But we’ll create safe communities a bit removed from the current danger.”

“In simpler terms, I’m envisioning a permanent settlement for them because if they were to return now, it would take years before it’s livable,” he explained.

So far, there have been no serious negotiations within the Pentagon or the State Department concerning how the U.S. could feasibly or legally execute Trump’s proposed actions.

However, his announcement was met with approval from Israel’s far-right settler movement and their evangelical backers in the U.S., who support the annexation of Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories, such as the West Bank.

“In the meantime, I would take ownership of this,” Trump remarked about Gaza. “Consider it a promising real estate opportunity. It could become an attractive area with minimal investment.”

On Sunday, Navi Pillay, the head of the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, informed Politico that Trump’s plan for the “forcible removal of an occupied group constitutes an international crime and equates to ethnic cleansing.”

“Legally, there’s no way Trump could execute the threat to displace Palestinians,” Pillay asserted.

Currently, over 1.5 million Palestinians and their descendants, who lost their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, reside in refugee camps across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.