'Gaza is in Israel': Trump claims Gaza visit despite lack of evidence

Former US President Donald Trump claimed he had visited Gaza despite no evidence of such a trip, the New York Times reported on Monday.

His initial comment was made in an interview with the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt broadcasted on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks by the terrorist group Hamas, which controls Gaza.

According to the report, the Times noted that the Gaza Strip is not part of Israel and has never been, though some Israelis have called for annexing it.

Israel occupied from 1967 until 2005 when Israel withdrew from the territory. In 2007, after Hamas took over Gaza, Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade that restricted access to the area.

In his radio interview, Hewitt reportedly asked Trump if Gaza could be rebuilt after being at the center of the Israel-Hamas war following the October 7 attack: "Could someone make Gaza into something that all the Palestinian people would be proud of, would want to live in, would benefit them?” 

'I've been there, it's rough'

Trump replied, “It has the best location in the Middle East, water, and everything. It’s got, it is the best, I’ve said it for years. You know when — I’ve been there, and it’s rough. It’s a rough place, before the, you know, before all of the attacks and before the back and forth what’s happened over the last couple of years,” he told Hewitt.

There is no record of Trump ever being in Gaza. In 2017, in his first year as president of the US, Trump visited Israel and the West Bank, a separate territory miles from Gaza, for a meeting with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.

When asked later what Trump had referred to when he said he had “been there,” a Trump campaign official responded, “Gaza is in Israel. President Trump has been to Israel.”

The report noted that the comment raised questions about how Trump would approach the region if he wins another term in the 2024 election. Some in Israel, including those in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, favor the idea of reoccupying and annexing Gaza.

Throughout his 2024 election campaign, Trump has openly shown his support for Israel. During his four years in office, his supporters have praised several policy decisions he made regarding Israel, including the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and some Arab nations, the NYT wrote.

David M. Friedman, Trump’s former ambassador to Israel, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are accredited with moving the US embassy.

Trump has previously voiced his opinion that because of his supportive stance on Israel, he believes the Jewish community should give him their votes. 

When he was asked whether Israel would “recover fully” from the attacks. “I did more for Israel than anybody. I did more for the Jewish people than anybody. And it’s not reciprocal, as they say, not reciprocal.”