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Tag: area

  • Trump remains committed to US owning Gaza, says Middle East states could help rebuild war-torn area

    Trump remains committed to US owning Gaza, says Middle East states could help rebuild war-torn area

    U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he remains committed to the U.S. purchasing and owning Gaza, but that he may allow Middle Eastern countries to rebuild sections of the area ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war.

    Trump made the comment when speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to New Orleans for the Super Bowl.

    “I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,” Trump said. “As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it, other people may do it, through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back.”

    “There’s nothing to move back into. The place is a demolition site. The remainder will be demolished. Everything’s demolished,” he said.

    SAUDI ARABIA CONTRADICTS TRUMP, VOWS NO TIES WITH ISRAEL WITHOUT CREATION OF PALESTINIAN STATE

    President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One as he travels from Las Vegas to Miami on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP)

    The president also said he was open to the possibility of allowing some Palestinian refugees into the U.S. but that those requests would be handled on a case-by-case basis.

    Trump said last week at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he wants the U.S. to take over Gaza after Palestinians are resettled in other countries.

    “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump said at the time. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexplored bombs and other weapons on the site.”

    “Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” he added. “Do a real job. Do something different. Just can’t go back. If you go back, it’s going to end up the same way it has for 100 years.”

    ‘LEVEL IT’: TRUMP SAYS US WILL ‘TAKE OVER’ GAZA STRIP, REBUILD IT TO STABILIZE MIDDLE EAST

    Trump and Leavitt

    President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Miami to Joint Base Andrews on Jan. 27, as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt listens. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)

    Several countries have criticized Trump’s comments about taking over Gaza, which was bombarded by Israeli forces in the conflict sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack against the Jewish State.

    Trump also said on Jan. 25 that he wanted Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations to accept more Palestinian refugees from Gaza, potentially moving out enough people to “just clean out” the area.

    “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over,’” he said at the time.

    Palestinians feared during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which is now under a ceasefire, that they would suffer from another “Nakba,” meaning catastrophe in Arabic, which refers to the displacement and dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the 1948 war at the birth of the State of Israel.

    Earlier on Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo when asked about Trump’s plan to take over Gaza that the U.S. president was slated to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and possibly Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    President-Trump-departs-White-House

    U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One at the White House in Washington, D.C. on January 31, 2025. (BRYAN DOZIER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

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    “President Trump is due to meet with major, major Arab leaders, first and foremost the king of Jordan and the president of Egypt and I think also the crown prince of Saudi Arabia as well,” Herzog said.

    “These are partners that must be listened to, they must be discussed with. We have to honor their feelings as well and see how we build a plan that is sustainable for the future,” he added.

    Saudi Arabia is among the many countries that have rejected Trump’s plan to take over Gaza. Jordan’s King Abdullah II reportedly plans to tell Trump during their scheduled meeting on Tuesday that the proposal is a recipe for radicalism that will spread chaos throughout the Middle East and put at risk the kingdom’s peace with Israel.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

  • Cruz spearheads effort to derail nuclear waste dumping in oil-rich area of Texas

    Cruz spearheads effort to derail nuclear waste dumping in oil-rich area of Texas

    FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is leading a bipartisan amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to validate a lower court ruling preventing nuclear waste from being deposited in his state.

    Cruz, along with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, wants the top court to uphold a lower court ruling that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) lacks authority to license nuclear waste storage facilities. 

    They argue the proposed location of the nuclear waste sites poses “an enormous threat to the country’s security and economic well-being.”

    The case, NRC v. Texas, will decide “whether the Commission has authority to issue the license under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 or the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.”

    TOP TRADE ASSOCIATION SENDS LETTERS CALLING ON BIG CHANGES IN THREE KEY DEPARTMENTS: ‘UNLEASH AMERICAN ENERGY’

    The Supreme Court in October agreed to take up the case after the Biden administration appealed a Fifth Circuit decision holding that the NRC lacked authority to license nuclear waste storage facilities. The license, which was granted to the Biden administration and a company to build a waste storage facility in western Texas, was challenged by Texas and New Mexico.

    The bipartisan amicus brief argues the proposed location of nuclear waste sites in Texas poses “an enormous threat to the country’s security and economic well-being.”

    Interim Storage Partners planned on operating the nuclear storage facility in Andrews County, Texas, a decision that spurred backlash because of the facility’s location within the Permian Basin. 

    “The Permian Basin is our nation’s leading oil- and gas-producing region and a critical pillar of America’s energy security,” Cruz told Fox News Digital in a statement. “I support the State of Texas in opposing the NRC’s federal overreach and will keep fighting to ensure West Texas remains the energy power house it is today.”

    The brief argues that placing the storage facilities near the Permian Basin makes the area “an enticing target for adversaries,” therefore threatening the oil-producing region. The brief says neither the parties hoping to operate the facilities nor the NRC are “equipped to consider the broader ramifications” of placing the facilities in the area. 

    ALASKA LEADERS CHEER TRUMP OIL AND GAS DRILLING EXECUTIVE ORDER

    Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cueller and Republican Reps. August Pfluger and Ronny Jackson have also joined Cruz’s brief. 

    “Energy independence is national security, which is why I support the scale-up of all reliable and economical energy sources, including nuclear, to meet our rising energy demand,” Arrington said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “However, I will not allow Washington to impose its will on West Texas regarding the temporary disposal of high-level nuclear waste simply because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can’t — or won’t — finalize permanent storage elsewhere.”

    Arrington said Texas “and the people of Andrews should make the decision” rather than “some nameless, faceless bureaucrat in Washington, D.C.”

    The amicus brief states that the location of the waste sites — while “remote” — “present an enormous threat to the country’s security and economic well-being.”

    Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas

    Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (pictured), along with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, wants the Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission lacks authority to license nuclear waste storage facilities. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

    “Energy security is national security. That adage remains as true now as it did in the 1970s, when OPEC strategically curtailed its oil supply to the United States,” the filing continues. 

    BIDEN HAD NO IDEA HE SIGNED NATURAL GAS EXPORT PAUSE, JOHNSON SAYS

    “And although we’ve come a long way since then — building up domestic energy production capacity and decreasing dependence on fossil fuels — recent events are a vivid reminder of the importance of energy independence,” the amicus continued. “They’ve also shown that the Permian Basin has global importance.”

    Supreme Court justices

    The high court is set to hear oral arguments in the case in early March. (Ricky Carioti /The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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    The high court is set to hear oral arguments in the case in early March.

    Haley Chi-Sing is a Writer for Fox News Digital. You can reach her at @haleychising on X.