5 Takeaways From Trump’s News Conference With Netanyahu

President Trump said Tuesday that the United States should take over Gaza and forcibly relocate two million Palestinians to other countries, describing his plan as a humanitarian effort to provide a “beautiful” new home for people displaced by a devastating war.

The proposal, delivered during a news conference at the White House with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, upended decades of American foreign policy in the Middle East even as negotiations for the second phase of cease-fire between Israel and Hamas were continuing.

Here are five takeaways:

A Middle East flashpoint

By proposing that the United States take over Gaza, Mr. Trump injected his administration directly into one of the most sensitive flash points in the Middle East. For years, under presidents of both major parties, the United States has backed the idea of a “two-state solution” in which Palestinians and Israelis would live side-by-side in peace.

In a day, Mr. Trump abandoned that notion, replacing it with a completely different idea.

“Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land,” he told reporters. “Developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent.”

In fact, the leaders of Egypt and Jordan had already rejected the idea of taking in Palestinians. And on Tuesday, representatives of Hamas called the idea of relocating close to two million people “a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region.”

Mr. Trump did not cite any legal authority giving him the right to take over the territory, nor did he address the fact that forcible removal of a population violates international law.