The US is pushing ahead with plans to build communities for Palestinians on the Israeli side of the line dividing Gaza, bringing in teams of engineers and starting to clear sites in hopes of pulling civilians away from areas controlled by Hamas, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The effort is a tacit acknowledgment that disarming the militant group and removing it from authority as called for under President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the enclave isn’t likely to happen soon, it said.
To preserve momentum, the US is drawing up plans for so-called alternative safe communities inside areas of Gaza under Israeli control, referred to by US officials as the green zone, according to US, Israeli and Arab officials.
At the Civil-Military Coordination Center in southern Israel, where the US military is leading a multinational effort to stabilize postwar Gaza and develop a blueprint for its future, engineering teams are working on plans for the new townships, according to US officials at the site.
Teams are also working on clearing out debris and unexploded ordnance, the officials told The Wall Street Journal. Construction has yet to begin.
The communities will be aimed at providing Gazans displaced by the war with housing, schools and hospitals until more permanent reconstruction can take place, US officials said. They would serve as a model for future rebuilding and officials hope they would draw Gazans away from areas controlled by Hamas.
The first of the communities are slated to be built in Rafah, a major Gaza city on the border with Egypt that has been largely razed by Israeli forces and under full Israeli control since around May. The Rafah plan is still in the early stages, Israeli and US officials said.
Control of Gaza was divided roughly in half in October as part of the Trump-brokered cease-fire agreement. Most Palestinians live in the western half, which is controlled by Hamas. Israel controls the other half.
