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<\/a> 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, external<\/a> 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<\/a> 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