President Donald Trump’s jaw-dropping statement that he would like the U.S. to take control of and redevelop the Gaza Strip might have sounded like it came from nowhere, but it was in keeping with his new administration’s expansionist ambitions.

President Trump called for the U.S. to "own” the Gaza Strip, “level the site” and develop it, explicitly calling for displacing Palestinians from their homeland as the region’s leaders struggle to maintain a fragile ceasefire.