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Although the president had been talking about the concept for weeks, there had not been on the issue and the members of his government government were taken by surprise.
By Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman
When President Trump announced his proposal for the U. S. to rely on Gaza on Tuesday, he even surprised members of his own blank space and government.
While his announcement looked formal and thought-out — he read the plan from a sheet of paper — his administration had not done even the most basic planning to examine the feasibility of the idea, according to four people with knowledge of the discussions, who were not authorized to speak publicly.
It wasn’t only the Americans who were scrambling; the announcement came as just as much of a surprise to Mr. Trump’s Israeli visitors. Soon before they walked out for their joint news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Trump surprised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel by telling him he planned to announce the Gaza ownership idea, according to two people briefed on their interactions.
Within the United States government, there had been no assembly with the State Department or the Pentagon, as would happen for a serious foreign policy proposal, and less one of this magnitude. There had been no career groups. The Ministry of Defense had not produced an estimate of the number of troops required, or collect estimates, or even a review of how it can work.
There is little beyond an internal concept of the president’s head.
Unlike major foreign policy announcements with past presidents, including Mr. Trump, the notion of the United States controlling Gaza had never been part of a public discussion before Tuesday.
But privately, Trump had been talking about the assets of the American enclave for weeks. And his idea had accelerated, two management officials, after his envoy from the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, returned from Gaza last week and described the terrible conditions.
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