This week, Vice President JD Vance and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, both suggested that the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip doesn’t necessarily need to wait until Hamas is disarmed or no longer a threat. They believe reconstruction efforts could begin very soon in areas controlled by the Israeli military.
Following a cease-fire implemented earlier this month, Gaza is now divided by a ‘yellow line,’ leaving the eastern, inland half under Israeli military command, separate from the Hamas-controlled sector. Both American officials, speaking during their visits to Israel, highlighted the potential for swift reconstruction in these Israeli-held territories.
“No reconstruction funds will be going into areas that Hamas still controls,” Mr. Kushner declared on Tuesday, painting a vision of establishing “a new Gaza” on the Israeli-administered side.
This concept holds significant appeal for Israel’s supporters, offering a chance to forge a model Palestinian community free from the threat of rockets or underground tunnels aimed at Israel.
However, this approach also echoes a past, highly improbable vision from Mr. Trump: a ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ in a Gaza devoid of its Palestinian population.
Experts warn that maintaining security to keep Hamas operatives out of a rebuilt Gaza strip could necessitate such stringent measures that it might be perceived as another form of military occupation.
A crucial question remains: can this reconstruction truly foster lasting peace, or will it simply be seen as a disguised re-occupation by Israel? Furthermore, Arab nations are likely to be hesitant to participate in any plan that appears to legitimize or facilitate an occupation.
After two years of conflict, the majority of Gaza’s two million residents have been displaced multiple times. For many, the prospect of a new beginning in a freshly built community cannot overshadow their deep-rooted connection to their original homes in Gaza.
“Too many people talk about us like we’re chess pieces,” expressed Mohammed Fares, a 25-year-old living in Deir al Balah after his family home in Gaza City was destroyed. “They think we can just be moved from one space to another.”
Destroyed buildings seen from west of Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza, this month. Credit: Saher Alghorra for The New York Times
What is East of the Yellow Line?
Under the terms of the cease-fire, the Israeli military has withdrawn to an area encompassing approximately 53 percent of the Gaza Strip, essentially its eastern half. Palestinians have been explicitly warned to avoid this zone, and tragically, some who either ignored or misunderstood the demarcation have been killed. Israeli forces have started marking the boundary with yellow-painted concrete blocks.
Leaflets dropped in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Monday, warning Palestinians to stay away from the yellow line. Credit: Jehad Alshrafi/Associated Press
The Israeli military reported that around 30,000 Palestinians were in areas of Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza when the cease-fire commenced, all under Israeli military control. While these Palestinians are permitted to move to Hamas-controlled areas, they are not allowed to return to the Israeli-controlled zones.
Otherwise, officials describe much of the Israeli-controlled territory as a desolate wasteland, where soldiers are the only inhabitants for miles.
Why are U.S. Officials Embracing This Idea?
Mr. Vance expressed strong support for this initiative during his recent visit to Israel.
“This is all still pretty early, but that’s the basic idea,” Mr. Vance explained on Thursday. “Take the areas where Hamas is not operating, start to rebuild very quickly, start to bring in the Gazans so they can live there, so they can have good jobs and hopefully some security and comfort, too.”
The proposal to reconstruct areas no longer under Hamas control enjoys broad political backing among Israel’s supporters, including some who have previously criticized Israel’s conduct during the war. Michael Koplow of the liberal Israel Policy Forum, views it as a welcome chance for a fresh start.
“Had Israel treated the areas that the I.D.F. cleared out over the course of the war as opportunity zones to create a functional day after, it would have prevented Hamas from re-establishing itself in those places once the I.D.F. left — which is why the I.D.F. kept on entering the same neighborhoods three or even four times,” Mr. Koplow wrote in a newsletter on Thursday, referring to the Israeli military by its initials.
What Are the Risks?
Tamir Hayman, former chief of Israeli military intelligence, distinguished between rebuilding east of the yellow line and successfully resettling Palestinians there while preventing Hamas’s return.
“You will need to screen, 24/7, every bad-entity individual that passes through,” he stated. “You’ll need outposts and checkpoints. And if you call it a new form of occupation of Gaza, you might be right. And I think Hamas will try to disrupt it. It will try to infiltrate, to create attacks inside this new area, as a resistance to the occupation.”
What do Palestinians Think?
Ayed Abu Ramadan, chairman of the Gaza Governorate Chamber of Commerce, believes the American government may be misinterpreting Gaza’s geography. “Israel is mostly occupying agricultural and industrial lands,” he noted. “So they’re going to build residential structures there? That isn’t logical.”
Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy; Vice President JD Vance; and Jared Kushner, a son-in-law of President Trump, in southern Israel on Tuesday. Credit: Nathan Howard for The New York Times
He sees Mr. Kushner’s comments more as a veiled threat to Hamas than a viable proposal. “They’re trying to tell Hamas that it needs to work with Trump’s plan,” he commented.
Taking the idea seriously, Mr. Abu Ramadan raised concerns about the criteria for residency in these new Gaza neighborhoods. “They’ll end up separating families,” he predicted. “They’ll say certain people can’t go because there are question marks about them. They’ll be denied entry because they called the wrong person one time to offer condolences, they shook the wrong person’s hand in the street or their cousin is the wrong person.”
Mr. Fares, the displaced Gazan, is focused on repairing his damaged home in Gaza City and expressed no desire to relocate. “I don’t see any benefit to this program,” he said. “We want to rebuild our homes in Gaza City. My roots are there.”
Reporting contributed by Adam Rasgon and Natan Odenheimer.