Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said the Gaza Strip could be a “real estate bonanza” and that he is in talks with the US about dividing up the territory after the war – an idea previously condemned internationally.
Speaking at an event in Tel Aviv, he said “a business plan is on President Trump’s table”.
“We’ve done the demolition phase… Now we need to build,” he said.
In February, Donald Trump floated plans for the US to take “a long-term ownership position” over Gaza, saying it could be the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
The idea would involve the forced displacement of Palestinians in the territory and be in violation of international law.
The US and Israel have said it would involve “voluntary” emigration. The BBC has reached out to the US State Department for comment on Smotrich’s remarks.
Trump’s plan – which was roundly rejected by Palestinians, Arab states and the wider international community – later appeared to have been dropped by the White House, with Trump describing it in July as “a concept that was really embraced by a lot of people, but also some people didn’t like it”.
But the Washington Post reported earlier this month a version of the idea was again under discussion, and would involve Gaza being turned into a trusteeship administered by the US for at least a decade while it is developed into a tourism resort and high-tech manufacturing hub.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has involved mass air strikes and building demolitions, has caused widespread destruction to the territory.
The United Nations (UN) estimates 92% of housing units have been damaged or destroyed, 91% of schools will require full reconstruction or major rehabilitation to be fully functional again, and 86% of cropland is damaged.
The UN estimated in February that the reconstruction of the territory would cost $53.2 billion (£46.1bn) over the next 10 years.
“We paid a lot of money for this war,” said Smotrich. “So we need to divide how we make a percentage on the land marketing later”.
Smotrich, leader of Israel’s Religious Zionist party, is an ultranationalist who has been sanctioned by the UK and other countries over repeated incitements of violence against Palestinians.
He has control over planning in the West Bank and has repeatedly pushed expansionist policies.
In late August, he unveiled a proposal for the annexation of approximately four-fifths of the the territory.
He said the plan would involve “applying Israeli sovereignty” to approximately 82% of the West Bank, adding that this was in line with the principle of “maximum land with minimum Arabs”.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state – during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.
The settlements are illegal under international law.
Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 65,062 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since then, almost half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
This week, a UN commission of inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza – an allegation the Israeli government strongly denied.
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