Shattering decades of US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and drawing regional condemnation in saying so.
 

The shock move drew swift condemnation from regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia which Trump hopes will establish ties with Israel.

An official from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which ruled the Gaza Strip before fighting Israel in a brutal war there, said Trump's statement about taking over the enclave was "absurd".

"Trump's remarks about his desire to control Gaza are ridiculous and absurd, and any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region," Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

Trump unveiled his surprise plan without providing specifics, at a joint press conference on Tuesday with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too...we're going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it'll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of," Trump told reporters, sounding like the real estate developer he once was.

--Reuters--