President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House on Monday, reiterating their desire to ethnically cleanse Gaza and claiming that other countries would be willing to accept the Palestinian population.

As Trump said, it would be a "good thing" for the United States to control Gaza. "Well, you know how I feel about Gaza. I think it's a very important piece of real estate," he told reporters in the Oval Office. "I think we're going to be involved in this, you know, having a peacekeeping force like the United States there, controlling and owning Gaza, would be a good thing."

The president said that if "Palestinians were transferred to different countries," it would create a "freedom zone" in Gaza. He said, "You can call it a freedom zone, a free zone, a zone where people won't be killed every day."

For his part, Netanyahu described the idea of expelling Palestinians from Gaza as voluntary. He said, "We are committed to releasing all hostages, but also to eliminating the evil tyranny of Hamas in Gaza and enabling the people of Gaza to freely choose to go wherever they want."

Netanyahu said he and President Trump discussed countries willing to accept Palestinians from Gaza, but he did not name any. He said, "I think this is the right thing to do. It will take years to rebuild Gaza; in the meantime, people can have a choice. The president has a vision. Countries respond to this vision, and we are working on it."

Netanyahu's visit to the United States came amid Israel's ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip, which have killed more than 1,300 Palestinians since the genocidal war resumed on March 18. Since March 2, Israel has imposed a comprehensive blockade on Gaza, cutting off the entry of humanitarian aid and all other goods.

The Israeli occupation army also expanded its ground offensive and seized control of more territory in Gaza as part of Netanyahu's plans for a complete Israeli military occupation.

The Israel Defense Forces now controls more than 50% of Gaza. President Trump has fully supported the Israeli escalation in Gaza, and on Monday claimed that Netanyahu is working to free the Israeli hostages despite his refusal to fully implement the January ceasefire agreement that would have achieved this goal. Israel has also rejected Hamas's offer to release all Israeli prisoners in exchange for a permanent truce.