Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Wednesday that he is working with the United States to draw up plans for Gaza’s future that would turn the territory into a “real estate bonanza.”
Smotrich’s revelations echo hopes for Gaza expressed by President Donald Trump earlier this year, before the White House appeared to surrender the plan for postwar renewal amid backlash from Middle Eastern allies. However, the Israeli minister’s comments suggest that the plan was never entirely called off.
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“Listen to me carefully, there’s a business plan set by the most professional people there is, and is on President Trump’s table, and how this thing turns into a real estate bonanza,” Smotrich said at a real estate conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, focused on urban renewal. “I’m not kidding — it pays off.
“I have started negotiations with the Americans, I say this not jokingly now, because I also demand — we paid a lot of money for this war — so we need to divide how we make a percentage on the land marketing later in Gaza. And now, no kidding, we’ve done the demolition phase, which is always the first phase of urban renewal. Now we need to build — it’s much cheaper.”
Smotrich’s statement does not necessarily speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s agenda for postwar Gaza. Although Smotrich is a member of Netanyahu’s coalition government, the finance minister belongs to a different, more right-wing party than the prime minister. Smotrich has also expressed support for Israeli settlements in Gaza should Israel defeat Hamas terrorists who govern the area, an idea that is at odds with Netanyahu’s position on the matter, which calls for no permanent settlements in the strip after the war.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the State Department and White House for further details on Smotrich’s claim that he is working with the U.S. to make plans for developing Gaza but did not receive a response.
While specifics are scant, Trump’s previous real estate proposal for the Gaza Strip could shed light on the Israeli official’s latest remarks.
In February, Trump floated plans for the U.S. to take “a long-term ownership position” over Gaza, saying it could be the “Riviera of the Middle East” and “big real estate site.” At the time, Netanyahu praised the president’s effort, which the White House said would involve “voluntary” emigration of around 2 million Palestinians.
“Gaza is a hellhole right now,” Trump said. “It was before the bombing started, frankly. And we’re going to give people a chance to live in a beautiful community that’s safe and secure. The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative. It’s right now a demolition site. They can live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again.
“We’ll make sure that it’s done world-class. It’ll be wonderful for the people, Palestinians. We’ll make sure something really spectacular is done. They’re going to have peace. They’re not going to be shot at and killed and destroyed like this civilization of wonderful people has had to endure.“
The discussions appeared to have petered out in the wake of backlash, however. In July, Trump described it as “a concept that was really embraced by a lot of people, but also some people didn’t like it,” likely a reference to a host of Middle Eastern partners, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates, who swiftly condemned the proposal.
When pressed on the administration’s vision for Gaza’s future in July, State Department officials said that “countries, our partners in the region,” were working to implement Trump’s “new ideas.” A State Department spokeswoman declined to offer further details in comments to BBC News at the time, saying, “I won’t exactly tell you today.”
Smotrich’s latest comments on Gaza’s development appear to confirm elements of a Washington Post report published earlier this month, which indicated that White House officials were still scrutinizing a version of Trump’s real estate idea for the strip.
The GREAT Trust postwar proposal centered on public and private investment would turn Gaza into a tourism resort and tech hub boasting six to eight “AI-powered smart cities,” all while being under the control of the U.S. for at least a decade. Palestinians in Gaza would receive $5,000 and an aid package to relocate. The U.S. would pay roughly a quarter of its population to relocate, many people permanently. Those who choose to stay would live in designated areas. The GREAT Trust proposal promised to increase the value of Gaza by $324 billion and “dramatically improve quality of life,” according to the outlet.
The war in Gaza was triggered in 2023 when Hamas murdered roughly 1,200 civilians at an Israeli music festival. Israel is fast bleeding international support for its fight against Hamas, as leading European nations such as the United Kingdom and France have pledged support for a Palestinian state, a move the U.S. and Netanyahu believe undermines peace efforts to negotiate an end to the war with Hamas. Critics argue that if achieving Palestinian statehood was Hamas’s goal, then statehood would reward its terrorist attack, in which over 1,000 people were killed, tortured, raped, and kidnapped, and the ensuing war it provoked, in which thousands of the people Hamas represents were killed after the terrorists denied civilians the ability to evacuate.
ONLY ONE-THIRD OF PALESTINIANS HAVE LEFT GAZA CITY FOLLOWING EVACUATION ORDER: ISRAELI MILITARY
Earlier this week, Israel expanded its military offensive in Gaza, launching a ground operation seeking to eliminate Hamas members staked out in the area’s main city. At a press briefing alongside Netanyahu shortly before Israel’s new military operation launched, Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed Israel’s fight and warned that Hamas needed to be totally eliminated because of concerns that a peace deal might be impossible to reach with the terrorist group.
“As much as we may wish that there be a sort of a peaceful, diplomatic way to end it, and we’ll continue to explore and be dedicated to it, we also have to be prepared for the possibility that that’s not going to happen,” Rubio said, adding that he believes there is a “very short window of time” for securing a ceasefire deal after Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza City started.