Gaza could be rebuilt "better than Monaco", the Mediterranean haven for the super-rich, former US President Donald Trump said on Monday.
The Republican presidential candidate said this in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who asked him whether the coastal enclave, devastated by Israel's military attacks, could become the new Monaco "if it was rebuilt in the right way," Politico reported.
"Gaza could be better than Monaco," answered Trump. "It has the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything".
Trump, a former real estate developer, added that he had "been there" and that it was a "tough place," but the New York Times reported that there was no record of Trump visiting Gaza as president or as a businessman.
A campaign official told the newspaper that Trump was referring to Israel, which he visited (alongside the West Bank) when he was president in 2017. Gaza has been under Israeli occupation for decades, but it is not part of that country.
"Politico" writes that Trump's statements are reminiscent of the comments of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who said in February that "Gaza's coastal land ... could be very valuable."
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