Trump: Gaza could be ‘better than Monaco’

Gaza could be rebuilt “better than Monaco,” the Mediterranean haven for the super-rich, former U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Monday.

The Republican presidential candidate made the comments in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who asked him whether the coastal enclave, devastated by Israel’s yearlong military offensive, could be another Monaco “if it was rebuilt the right way.”

“[Gaza] could be better than Monaco,” Trump replied. “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 it was “a rough place,” but The New York Times reported that there is no record of Trump visiting Gaza as president or as a businessman. A campaign official told the newspaper Trump had been referring to Israel, which Trump visited (along with the West Bank) when he was president in 2017. Gaza was occupied by Israel for decades but hasn’t been part of the country.