WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, proposing a major shift in Middle East policy, called for the U.S. to take over the Gaza Strip and relocate roughly two million Palestinians to neighboring Arab countries. His goal, he said, is to turn the war-ravaged enclave into the "Riviera of the Middle East."

Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to take “ownership” over Gaza and displace Palestinians added to uncertainty over the fate of the enclave and its residents.

Trump administration officials are hurrying to catch up to the president’s audacious and improbable plan for the United States to take ownership of Gaza and redevelop it into a “Middle Eastern Riviera,