Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich provoked controversy by calling Gaza a “real estate bonanza” during talks with US officials, fueling global criticism.
In order to turn Gaza, which is home to 2.2 million Palestinians, into a real estate venture, Israel has "already begun negotiations with the Americans" on a "business plan." According to him, President Donald Trump has the proposal on his desk.
“The Gaza Strip is becoming a real estate bonanza,”
Smotrich said in Hebrew at a real estate conference in Israel, per Israeli media.
He claimed that Israel had "paid a lot of money" to carry out its attack and that the genocide "pays for itself" as a result of these offers.
“We paid a lot of money for the war, so we need to decide how to divide the percentages of the land in Gaza. The demolition phase is always the first phase of urban renewal. We did that, now we need to start building,”
he said, per Haaretz.
The Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust, or GREAT Trust, is a plan that the United States has been proposing to move and possibly expel all of Gaza's residents to other nations. An initial draft of the idea was created by a group of Israeli businesspeople for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a leading U.S. consulting firm, supplied financial modeling for the strategy.
According to the concept, landowners will receive a "digital token" in return for redeveloping their rights, and displaced Palestinians will receive a nominal compensation for their departure. Relocating or "eventually redeemed for an apartment in one of six to eight new 'AI-powered, smart cities' to be built in Gaza" are two possible uses for this token.
Trump's talk about turning Gaza into the "Riviera" , a plan to construct a wealthy beach resort on top of the remains of Israel's extermination operation, on the site of former Palestinian homes is consistent with the concept.
According to the strategy, BCG estimated that the plan would be enormously profitable, recouping four times its initial investment of $100 billion. The company has disassociated itself from the scheme, claiming that the partners who gave their approval were let go.
Given that forced population relocation is prohibited by international law, Israeli and American authorities have emphasized that the displacement of Palestinians under the plan would only be temporary. However, that is a lie, according to a recent report by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), who stated that it was evident from their trip to Israel and Palestine last month that Israel is planning to expel all Palestinians from Gaza as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign.
“The fact that both the Netanyahu government and now the Trump Administration are framing their plan as a call for the ‘voluntary’ exodus of Palestinians from Gaza is one of the most fraudulent, sinister, and twisted cover stories ever told,”
the report said.
What are the potential legal implications of land division in Gaza?
Despite Israel’s assertion of having disengaged from Gaza in 2005, numerous international governmental organizations, including the UN, classify Gaza as occupied Palestinian territory.
If Gaza is still deemed occupied territory, Israel has some legal obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Hague Regulations, including ensuring the safety of civilians, public order, and protecting basic rights.
Any intentional demographic or territorial change in Gaza by way of land division or annexation would in all likelihood be illegal under the law of occupation that prohibits transferring the civilian populations of the occupier into the occupied territory. The UN Charter and international law prohibit acquiring territory by force including annexation or division of land after military occupation.