Although the president had been talking about the idea for weeks, there had been no meetings on the subject, and senior members of his government were taken by surprise.

President Donald Trump's plan for the United States to take over Gaza, permanently displacing Palestinians who live there and creating the "Riviera of the Middle East," has upset Arab nations and Western allies and would overturn decades of American policy in the region.

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,