Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has described Gaza as a potential real estate “bonanza” and claimed he was speaking to the United States about how one can divide up the war-torn enclave.
Speaking at the Urban Renewal Summit in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the far-right minister stated that Israel and the US had “paid a lot of money for the war, so we need to share percentages on the land sales in Gaza.”
Smotrich additionally stated he had already began negotiations with the US on how one can divide Gaza, claiming there was a marketing strategy on the matter sitting “on President (Donald) Trump’s desk.”
NCS has reached out to the White House for remark.
“We have done the demolition phase, which is always the first phase of urban renewal – now we need to build,” he stated.
Smotrich’s feedback follow comparable remarks by Israel’s far-right nationwide safety minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who stated on Monday that he deliberate to construct a “magnificent neighborhood” for Israeli law enforcement officials in Gaza after Israel’s operation in Gaza City is over.
Trump has beforehand stated that he considered Gaza as a “big real estate site” and proposed expelling 2.1 million Palestinians from the territory earlier than remodeling it into a “Riviera” that may be owned by the US.
In February, the president even posted a video on his Truth Social account – which seems to have been created with generative AI – selling the transformation of Gaza into a Gulf state-like resort that includes a golden statue of himself, a hummus-eating Elon Musk, and shirtless American and Israeli leaders lounging on a seaside.
The proposal acquired mass condemnation from the worldwide group.
Israel’s far-right has lengthy needed to maneuver Palestinians out of Gaza, a prospect that critics have stated would quantity to ethnic cleaning.
Fears are rising additional for Gaza’s plight as Israel stated it has begun a deliberate invasion of Gaza City, the enclave’s largest, pushing greater than 1 million residents to overcrowded areas additional south in the strip.
As of Wednesday, Israeli tanks had been stationed on the fringe of Gaza City forward of the deliberate floor operation, in accordance with eyewitnesses and satellite tv for pc imagery.