SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Gaza currently is “not habitable” due to dangers such as unexploded weapons, and that people would have to live elsewhere while the area is rebuilt.
Rubio, answering a reporter’s question during a visit to the Dominican Republic, encouraged other countries to step forward and offer to help rebuild Gaza, but did not say whether Palestinians would be able to return to the area under a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump to take over and develop the Gaza Strip.
“I think that’s just a realistic reality, that in order to fix a place like that, people are going to have to live somewhere else in the interim,” Rubio said.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis and Michael Martina)
