Once a critic of nation building, the president now envisions taking over a Middle East enclave, driving out its Palestinian population and transforming it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

Since its establishment, Israel has rejected the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their historic homeland, as this would have left the Jewish people as a minority within its borders. Today, there are about 5.9m Palestinians registered by the UN, with most living in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

In interviews, some Palestinians said they would rather leave Gaza, given the inescapable devastation — but the decision was theirs, not Trump’s, to make.