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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Israel’s far-right finance minister suggests a real estate | |
‘bonanza’ in Gaza will follow the war | |
By Lauren Izso, Tal Shalev, Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN | |
Updated: | |
2:14 PM EDT, Thu September 18, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has described Gaza as a | |
potential real estate “bonanza” and claimed he was talking to the | |
United States about how to divide up the war-torn enclave. | |
Speaking at the Urban Renewal Summit in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the | |
far-right minister said that Israel and the US had “paid a lot of | |
money for the war, so we need to share percentages on the land sales in | |
Gaza.” | |
Smotrich also said he had already started negotiations with the US on | |
how to divide Gaza, claiming there was a business plan on the matter | |
sitting “on President (Donald) Trump’s desk.” | |
“We have done the demolition phase, which is always the first phase | |
of urban renewal – now we need to build,” he said. | |
When asked about Smotrich’s statement, a White House official told | |
CNN that “President Trump has long promoted solutions that would help | |
the people of Gaza rebuild.” | |
“However, Hamas must first agree to disarm and give up rule in | |
Gaza,” the official said. | |
Smotrich’s comments follow similar remarks by Israel’s far-right | |
national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who said on Monday that he | |
planned to build a “magnificent neighborhood” for Israeli police | |
officers in Gaza after Israel’s operation in Gaza City is over. | |
Trump has previously said that he viewed Gaza as a “” and proposed | |
expelling 2.1 million Palestinians from the territory before | |
transforming it into a “Riviera” that would be owned by the US. | |
In February, the president even posted a video on his Truth Social | |
account – which appears to have been created with generative AI – | |
promoting the transformation of into a Gulf state-like resort featuring | |
a golden statue of himself, a hummus-eating , and shirtless American | |
and Israeli leaders lounging on a beach. | |
The proposal received mass condemnation from the international | |
community. | |
Israel’s far-right has long wanted to move Palestinians out of Gaza, | |
a prospect that critics have said would amount to ethnic cleansing. | |
Fears are rising further for Gaza’s plight as Israel said it has | |
begun a planned invasion of Gaza City, the enclave’s largest, pushing | |
more than 1 million residents to overcrowded areas further south in the | |
strip. | |
As of Wednesday, Israeli tanks were stationed on the edge of ahead of | |
the planned ground operation, according to eyewitnesses and satellite | |
imagery. | |
CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this story. | |
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