A leaked 38-page document details the Trump administration’s “Gaza Riviera” plan to forcibly relocate 2 million Palestinians and place Gaza’s territory in U.S. trusteeship for over a decade.
The Washington Post reported on the prospectus for the plan, which calls for “temporary relocation” of Gaza’s population so that “AI-powered smart cities,” and a manufacturing hub named after Trump-donor Elon Musk could be erected.
“Gaza can transform into a Mediterranean hub for manufacturing, trade, data, and tourism, benefiting from its strategic location, access to markets… resources, and a young workforce all supported by Israeli tech and [Gulf Cooperation Council] investments,” states the document.
“Reconstruction will also increase value of Gaza by ~$324B and dramatically improve quality of life,” it continues.
Gazans would allegedly be allowed to return to their homeland when a “reformed and deradicalized Palestinian Polity is ready to step in its shoes.”
The plan, which is dubbed the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust (GREAT), says that Gazans who choose to move to another country will be rewarded with a $5,000 relocation package, four years of rent subsidies, and one year of food subsidies. It assumes that 75% Gazans will not return once they leave.
Another part of the plan would allow the White House to “secure US-industry access to $1.3T of rare-earth minerals from the Gulf.”
Some of the Israelis who drafted GREAT are also connected to the infamous Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which set up inadequate aid distribution points in Gaza where thousands of Palestinians have been killed and injured.
President Donald Trump first unveiled his “Gaza Riviera” in February, when he told reporters that the U.S. would take Gaza to redevelop it and “make it exciting.”
“I can tell you about real estate,” said Trump. “They’re going to be in love with it.”
Trump’s plan was condemned by human rights groups and political analysts.
“Trump’s plan is to kick all Palestinians out of Gaza so the US can control it indefinitely, turning their land into a tourist hub,” tweeted the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU). “Israel is committed to ethnic cleansing and stealing land from Palestinians. The US cannot be a partner in this.”
“Trump’s postwar plan for Gaza still envisions the ‘voluntary’ relocation of the entire population, as if their movement after Israel destroyed their homes can be ‘voluntary’,” wrote former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth. “Israel would then likely never let them back. Mass ethnic cleansing.”
“Trump’s team is circulating a 38-page ‘GREAT Trust’ plan for Gaza,” posted journalist Hala Jaber. “It envisions a U.S.-run trusteeship for 10 years, turning the Strip into a ‘Riviera of the Middle East.’ The catch? It begins with the ‘voluntary’ relocation of 2M Palestinians. Genocide packaged as real estate.”
Some also noted that the Washington Post’s article neglected to acknowledge the terrifying reality of Trump’s plan.
“This report, framed as investigative and critical but reads more like a trial balloon, is full of downplaying and euphemism,” tweeted media critic Adam Johnson. “How you can write 3,400 words on a clear-as-day plan for ethnic cleansing and genocide and use neither word—not even in quotes? A complete whitewash job.”
“When a military makes life unsustainable via bombing, forced starvation, demolition, disease, drone attacks, and endless terror, emigration cannot be ‘voluntary’ by definition and making this clear ought to be central to this article instead this dynamic isn’t mentioned once,” he continued.
The Washington Post article comes just days after Trump and senior administration officials (including Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and special envoy Steve Witkoff) held a White House meeting on post-war Gaza plans. Attendees included former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, real estate developer and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer.
A source with direct knowledge of the meeting told Axios, “They tried to give an idea of how Gaza could be governed and how you create an environment for investment so that reconstruction can happen. The goal was to run the ideas by Trump to see if he likes them and want to move forward, so that Witkoff and Rubio can use them.”
