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The United States is floating a plan to redraw the map of Gaza, carving the war-battered enclave into two distinct zones, one under Israeli and international military control, and another left to the Palestinians along the coast, according to U.S. military documents obtained by The Guardian.
Under the draft plan, foreign troops would deploy alongside Israeli forces in eastern Gaza. The idea is to secure what is now a devastated buffer strip, the so-called “yellow line” Israel has carved out during two years of war, and eventually replace it with a new “green zone” fully controlled by Israeli and international forces. Reconstruction would begin there first.
The remaining coastal area, heavily destroyed and still home to Palestinians, would be labeled the “red zone” and remain under Palestinian control.
The division, on either side of the existing yellow line, would create a “green zone” under Israeli and international military control, where reconstruction would begin, and a “red zone,” which would remain in Palestinian hands – Map: Guardian
An earlier U.S. proposal to create fenced-off Palestinian “alternative safe communities,” essentially enclosed camps known as ASC sites, has been scrapped. A U.S. official told The Guardian that the ASC model was “a snapshot of an idea proposed at a certain moment” and that Washington has “moved well beyond it.”
Humanitarian groups, which had strongly objected to the ASC concept, said Friday they still had not been briefed on the new direction.
According to The Guardian, plans for Gaza’s future are shifting at “breakneck speed,” revealing a chaotic and improvised approach to one of the world’s most complex conflicts. The rapid changes have also raised questions about Washington’s commitment, and that of President Donald Trump personally, to turning last month’s ceasefire into the basis for a lasting political settlement.
Aid groups and international mediators warn the emerging framework risks trapping Gaza in a limbo “that is neither war nor peace," a divided territory facing routine Israeli strikes, continued occupation, no Palestinian self-governance, and only limited rebuilding of homes and communities.
A proposed international stabilization force, or ISF, sits at the center of Trump’s 20-point “peace plan.” Washington hopes the U.N. Security Council will approve a resolution formalizing that force early next week. The U.S. expects troop-deployment details to be finalized soon after.
The discussions, sources say, remain fluid, and the future of Gaza is still being sketched in pencil.
*Source: The Guardian
