Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said the Gaza Strip could be a “real estate bonanza” and that he is in talks with the US about dividing up the territory after the war – an idea previously condemned internationally.<\/p>\n
Speaking at an event in Tel Aviv, he said “a business plan is on President Trump’s table”.<\/p>\n
In February, Donald Trump floated plans for the US to take “a long-term ownership position” over Gaza, saying it could be the “Riviera of the Middle East”.<\/p>\n
The idea would involve the forced displacement of Palestinians in the territory and be in violation of international law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The US and Israel have said it would involve “voluntary” emigration. The BBC has reached out to the US State Department for comment on Smotrich’s remarks. <\/p>\n
Trump’s plan – which was roundly rejected by Palestinians, Arab states and the wider international community – later appeared to have been dropped by the White House, with Trump describing it in July as “a concept that was really embraced by a lot of people, but also some people didn’t like it”.<\/p>\n
But the Washington Post reported earlier this month a version of the idea was again under discussion, and would involve Gaza being turned into a trusteeship administered by the US for at least a decade while it is developed into a tourism resort and high-tech manufacturing hub.<\/p>\n
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has involved mass air strikes and building demolitions, has caused widespread destruction to the territory.<\/p>\n
The United Nations (UN) estimates 92% of housing units have been damaged or destroyed, 91% of schools will require full reconstruction or major rehabilitation to be fully functional again, and 86% of cropland is damaged.<\/p>\n
The UN estimated in February that the reconstruction of the territory would cost $53.2 billion (\u00a346.1bn) over the next 10 years.<\/p>\n
“We paid a lot of money for this war,” said Smotrich. “So we need to divide how we make a percentage on the land marketing later”.<\/p>\n
Smotrich, leader of Israel’s Religious Zionist party, is an ultranationalist who has been sanctioned by the UK and other countries over repeated incitements of violence against Palestinians.<\/p>\n
He has control over planning in the West Bank and has repeatedly pushed expansionist policies.<\/p>\n
In late August, he unveiled a proposal for the annexation of approximately four-fifths of the the territory. <\/p>\n
He said the plan would involve “applying Israeli sovereignty” to approximately 82% of the West Bank, adding that this was in line with the principle of “maximum land with minimum Arabs”.<\/p>\n
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state – during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.<\/p>\n
The settlements are illegal under international law.<\/p>\n
Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.<\/p>\n
At least 65,062 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since then, almost half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.<\/p>\n
This week, a UN commission of inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza – an allegation the Israeli government strongly denied.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said the Gaza Strip could be a “real estate…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1622,7588,7589,5428,190,3023,295,1370,3144,7587],"class_list":["post-68167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories","tag-backlash","tag-bonanza","tag-defying","tag-estate","tag-gaza","tag-international","tag-israeli","tag-minister","tag-real","tag-touts"],"yoast_head":"\n
Israeli minister touts Gaza 'real estate bonanza', defying international backlash - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israeli minister touts Gaza 'real estate bonanza', defying international backlash\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-18T12:08:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/4ebe8a80-9475-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.avif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Israeli minister touts Gaza 'real estate bonanza', defying international backlash - Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Israeli minister touts Gaza 'real estate bonanza', defying international backlash","og_description":"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site","og_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","og_site_name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","article_published_time":"2025-09-18T12:08:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/4ebe8a80-9475-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.avif","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"gulftimes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_site":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gulftimes","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=68167"},"author":{"name":"gulftimes","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977"},"headline":"Israeli minister touts Gaza ‘real estate bonanza’, defying international backlash","datePublished":"2025-09-18T12:08:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=68167"},"wordCount":565,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/4ebe8a80-9475-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.avif","keywords":["Backlash","bonanza","defying","estate","Gaza","International","Israeli","Minister","real","touts"],"articleSection":["Top Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=68167","url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","name":"Israeli minister touts Gaza 'real estate bonanza', defying international backlash - Gulf Times | News by the minute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/4ebe8a80-9475-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.avif","datePublished":"2025-09-18T12:08:00+00:00","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/4ebe8a80-9475-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/4ebe8a80-9475-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.avif","width":1024,"height":576},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y59z6rznvo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Israeli minister touts Gaza ‘real estate bonanza’, defying international backlash"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Largest News Aggregator in the Gulf","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Gulf News Aggregator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization","name":"Gulf Times","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Gulf Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","https:\/\/x.com\/Gulftimesuae"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977","name":"gulftimes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gulftimes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gulftimes.ae"],"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/68168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}