US unveils plan for 'safe communities' in Gaza
Shafaq News – Gaza
The United States is building “alternative safe communities” in Gaza, intended to shelter civilians displaced from areas under Hamas control, the Wall Street Journal said on Saturday.
Citing US and Israeli officials, the Journal reported that American engineering teams, in coordination with units from Israel’s Civil-Military Coordination Center, are being deployed to prepare sites designed for displaced residents. Activities include designing new towns, clearing rubble, and removing unexploded ordnance.
“These communities, which have not yet been built, are intended to provide housing, schools, and medical facilities for displaced Palestinians until permanent reconstruction begins,” a US official explained, noting that the first community is planned for Rafah in southern Gaza, near the Egyptian border, an area fully under Israeli control since May 2024.
To ensure that only civilians enter the communities and prevent infiltration by Hamas members, Israeli officials have proposed assigning security responsibilities to armed anti-Hamas groups already constructing residential areas within the Israeli-controlled Green Zone.
The U.S. is pushing ahead with plans to build communities for Palestinians on the Israeli side of the line dividing Gaza, in hopes of pulling civilians away from areas controlled by Hamas https://t.co/VL7q5RhD6G
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) November 21, 2025
The initiative has raised concerns in several Arab capitals over the potential for Gaza to be divided or placed under non-Palestinian administration. Egyptian officials specifically warn that the settlements could, under shifting circumstances, push Palestinians into Sinai in Egypt.
The plan comes as US President Donald Trump confirmed he will lead the newly formed Peace Council, responsible for overseeing Gaza’s transitional phase, after the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution authorizing an international force to stabilize the Strip.
Hamas swiftly rejected the resolution, warning it could impose “international tutelage over Gaza,” creating conditions that isolate the territory from the rest of Palestine and advance goals Israel did not achieve during its war on the Strip.
Last week, Israeli media reported that discussions between Washington and Israel on the next stage of Trump’s Gaza plan have stalled. The truce, brokered on October 13, ended more than two years of conflict that killed 69,546 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
According to Channel 13, the US is pressing ahead with phase two—focused on reconstruction and governance—while Israel refuses to advance without Hamas’s full disarmament.
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