A postwar plan by the Trump administration for Gaza involves a decade-long US trusteeship for the Gaza Strip, the relocation of 2.3 million Palestinians and investment in recovery, industry, tourism and housing, according to a report by the Washington Post.
The plan, known as the Gaza Reconstruction, Acceleration and Transformation Trust (Great), calls for Palestinians to settle in secure zones or leave Gaza for unnamed countries during reconstruction.
According to the report, each Palestinian who opts to leave would receive $5,000 in cash and funds to subsidise four years of rent and one year of food. Each departure would save the trust $23,000 compared with the cost of providing temporary housing and humanitarian services in secure zones for those who stay.
The Post also said Palestinian landowners would be given digital tokens for rights to use of their property which could be used to provide for “a new life elsewhere” or redeemed for residential flats to be built in “smart” cities. Projects would also include a highway and tram route around Gaza; a railway, pipelines and fibre installations to connect Gaza to Egypt, Israel and Jordan; a small port and airport; solar and desalination plants; industrial zones; and luxury resorts on the coast.
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The project would be financed by private and public-sector investments in projects rather than funds from the US government. It is calculated that an investment of $100 billion (€85 billion) could quadruple over a decade, according to reports.
The trust would be established by the sharply criticised Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The foundation co-ordinates with the Israeli military and uses private US security and logistics companies to get food aid into Gaza. It is favoured by US president Donald Trump’s administration and Israel to carry out humanitarian efforts in Gaza as opposed to the UN-led system which Israel says allows militants to divert aid.
In early August, the UN said more than 1,000 people had been killed trying to receive aid in Gaza since the GHF began operating in May 2025, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites.
The GHF is boycotted by experienced humanitarian organisations which efficiently and safely distributed food and medical aid at 44 hubs in Gaza until Israel imposed a blockade on March 2nd.
According to the Washington Post, the Great trust “was developed by some of the same Israelis who created and set in motion” the GHF.
Gaza’s health ministry has said 348 people, including 127 children, have died of starvation since the war began in October 2023.
According to the Great trust prospectus, the Israeli army would have “responsibility for overall security” while the GHF would use private contractors to distribute aid, impose public order and build and manage temporary housing. The GHF would train a local police force while Great would gradually transfer authority to an “independent Palestinian polity” comprised of vetted Palestinians. Israel and the Palestinians would agree to long-term security arrangements for Gaza.
Multiple plans for postwar Gaza have been put forward by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the Palestinian Authority, which proposed taking over governance of Gaza while externally funded reconstruction proceeded. Arab leaders who met at summit level in March have backed the Egyptian proposal for the creation of a government of Palestinian technocrats and an international and investment fund of $53 billion to clear Gaza’s rubble and rebuild while Palestinians would shelter in temporary housing within Gaza.
While offering to train Palestinian security forces, Cairo and Amman have called on the United Nations Security Council to establish a peacekeeping mission to monitor governance and reconstruction.
Hamas has agreed to hand over to a technocratic government and welcomed Egypt’s plan and but says it will not disarm or return the running of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. Israel has insisted on Hamas disarmament and refused the Authority’s reinstallation in Gaza. – Additional reporting: Reuters
