The US is reportedly backing a plan to construct housing compounds for thousands of “screened” Palestinians in areas of Gaza currently occupied by Israeli forces, raising fears that the project could entrench the territory’s division.
According to The Atlantic, US President Donald Trump’s administration, in coordination with Israeli officials, is advancing a proposal to build so-called “Alternate Safe Communities” behind a “yellow line” that divides Hamas-controlled western Gaza from Israeli-occupied eastern Gaza.
The plan aims to resettle Palestinians who pass anti-Hamas security screenings conducted by Israel’s Shin Bet, effectively separating them from the majority of Gaza’s two million residents.
Movement across the yellow line will be heavily restricted, raising concerns that the communities could become enclosed zones of indefinite displacement.
US Lieutenant General Patrick Frank, who heads the civil-military coordination center overseeing the Gaza ceasefire, outlined the plan in an internal email cited by The Atlantic.
He proposed that each community include a medical center, school, administrative building, and temporary housing for about 25,000 residents.
However, according to the report, US, UK, and Israeli officials later revised the target population down to around 6,000 per site.
The first pilot is expected to be built near Rafah in southern Gaza, an area largely owned by
Palestinians.
The project would be part of a broader US effort to implement Trump’s 20-point peace plan, which envisions an eventual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, even though no timeline has been provided.
The Financial Times reported that the proposal has alarmed Arab and European governments, who fear it could mark the beginning of a permanent Israeli occupation in parts of Gaza.
They think the project could cement a lasting partition, creating a two-tiered system between “approved” Palestinians and those remaining under Hamas administration.
Less than two percent of Gaza’s two million residents currently live behind the so-called yellow line, which was originally intended to be a temporary barrier.
The Trump administration has not committed US funds to Gaza’s reconstruction, instead seeking investments from Persian Gulf states. Meanwhile, the United Nations estimates the cost of rebuilding war-torn Gaza at roughly $70 billion.
Critics note that the proposed sites sit on Palestinian-owned land, raising concerns about potential displacement. The plan, they warn, risks deepening Gaza’s fragmentation while providing no clear path toward Palestinian sovereignty or full Israeli withdrawal.
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