The United States is going ahead with its plans to establish temporary housing for Palestinians in the green zone in eastern Gaza, formalising the division of the coastal enclave into a red zone controlled by Hamas and a green zone controlled by Israel.
The deployment of foreign troops along with Israeli forces in the green zone could expand international involvement in the conflict and solidify the Israeli-defined “yellow line” as a de facto boundary. Moreover, labelling Hamas-held areas as red and Israeli-controlled zones as green may affect future negotiations and reconstruction efforts.
The push to create “alternative safe communities” for displaced Palestinians in the green zone raises questions about the long-term viability of such settlements, their influence on Palestinian displacement patterns and the broader political consequences of relocating civilians into areas outside Hamas influence.
These communities are intended to offer housing, security, employment, medical clinics and schools. The proposal echoes elements of the previous US administration’s peace plan, which similarly presented Gaza as split between a green zone under Israeli authority and a red zone under Hamas. The compounds would be concentrated in the eastern half of the territory, an area now under Israeli control following a ceasefire in October. Very few of Gaza’s two million residents remain in this region, as most have been pushed into the Hamas-controlled sector, where reconstruction is not being permitted. American officials hope that Palestinians will be encouraged to move into the new communities, drawn by the opportunity to escape Hamas and begin to rebuild their lives.
The vision calls for a chain of model compounds that would be more permanent than tent camps yet still built from temporary structures. Each site could accommodate around 20,000-25,000 people. The first one is expected to be located in Rafah near the borders with Egypt and Israel, and its cost may reach several million dollars. Israeli troops would clear the land, a process that could last for months due to the likelihood of encountering Hamas tunnels, unexploded ordnance or human remains. Construction would follow, taking roughly six to nine weeks to put up prefabricated homes. Planners are considering container housing units and modular dwellings similar to those used for refugees in Syria and for victims of earthquakes in Turkey.
The driving force behind the project is a group of US officials, with Israeli support. The effort is led by Aryeh Lightstone, formerly a senior adviser to the US ambassador to Israel and later chief executive of the Abraham Accords Peace Institute, owned by Jared Kushner. He reports to Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. One of the central goals is to restart Gaza’s economy by creating jobs, particularly for Palestinian labourers who would build the compounds.
Many observers point out that the project is a sign of the lack of progress in disarming Hamas. Ultimately, it would lead to a de facto partition of Gaza between zones under Israeli control and those controlled by Hamas. The green zone would remain under Israeli military authority, separated by the invisible yellow line from the red zone, where most Palestinians now live in overcrowded conditions. Some fear this arrangement could become permanent, reproducing the situation in the West Bank where extensive Israeli control remains in place.
European diplomats have expressed frustration that little attention has been devoted to the red zone, which contains the majority of Gaza’s population. They argue that while the United States focuses on the green zone, Hamas is regrouping and strengthening its hold. Others see the plan as a version of a familiar colonial strategy aimed at fragmenting an occupied people. Historical comparisons have been made with British policies in Malaya, American strategic hamlets in Vietnam and the bantustans created under apartheid in South Africa. Early drawings of the new communities show clusters of homes, a school, a hospital and an employment centre ringed by patrol roads, fences, surveillance equipment and military posts. Some fear these sites would feel more like refugee camps or even internment centres than attractive neighbourhoods.
Operational and security problems have slowed progress. Options under discussion include using Palestinian police or soldiers from an international stabilisation force envisaged in the earlier US peace plan, which has now been endorsed by the UN Security Council. Some Israeli officials have argued that Palestinians should be allowed to enter the compounds but not leave them during an initial period, raising concerns among European diplomats. Supporters of the plan insist such measures would be temporary until Hamas is disarmed. Israeli security agencies are expected to vet applicants for residence in the communities, which has led to concerns that many public sector workers, relatives of Hamas members or others linked to the organisation could be excluded.
Hamas has rejected the entire proposal as an act of international trusteeship that violates Palestinian rights, and it has dismissed the UN resolution endorsing the international force tasked with disarming it. Whether the communities succeed will depend on whether Gazans themselves embrace them, a question that may turn on how Hamas responds, whether through sabotage or intimidation. With limited time and many unresolved issues, planners are pressing forward with whatever can be accomplished rather than waiting for perfect conditions.
