MEXICO CITY, February 6. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump's statements regarding the Gaza Strip should be perceived as an expression of Washington's readiness to take responsibility for the restoration of the Palestinian enclave and for the clearance of unexploded ordnance on its territory, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said speaking in Guatemala at a joint press conference with the President of the Republic Bernardo Arevalo.
"What the President what President Trump announced yesterday [on Tuesday - TASS], is the offer, the willingness of the United States to become responsible for the reconstruction of that area," the Secretary of State said.
"It was not meant as a hostile move. It was meant as a, I think, a very generous move," he assured.
Rubio noted that there are unexploded munitions of various types in the area, and their removal will be "an enormous undertaking."
"In my view, is offer the United States willingness to step in, clear the debris, clean the place up from all the destruction that's on the ground, clean it up of all these unexploded munitions," he added.
According to him, Palestinians "will not be able to live there while you have crews coming in a removing debris while you have munitions being removed."
"That's the offer that he's made," the head of the US diplomacy said.
As Rubio said, if the offer was accepted, "it would have to be worked out among multiple partner nations."
"What President Trump said yesterday is an acknowledgement of the following, Gaza has been severely damaged," he said. According to the US Secretary of State "the billions of dollars are going to be required for reconstruction".
"Some areas have been rendered unlivable now and for the foreseeable future," he added.
On February 4, Trump said at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following their talks at the White House, that the US was considering long-term ownership of the Gaza Strip in order to develop it for the sake of peace in the Middle East. Also, he proposed resettling Palestinians from the enclave to other countries in the region, which he said could pay for it. Trump also indicated that the US is ready to send its troops to Gaza if necessary.
The Palestinian authorities and representatives of many other countries rejected the idea of resettling residents of the enclave. According to Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin took note of Trump's proposals, but Moscow is familiar with the position of Egypt and Jordan, which did not accept this initiative.