US military planning for divided Gaza with 'green zone'

Almost entire Palestinian population has been displaced to 'red zone' where no reconstruction is planned

- Emma Graham-Harrison

The US is planning for the long-term division of Gaza into a “green zone” under Israeli and international military control, where reconstruction would start, and a “red zone” to be left in ruins.

Foreign forces will initially deploy alongside Israeli soldiers in the east of Gaza, leaving the devastated strip divided by the current Israeli-controlled “yellow line”, according to US military planning documents seen by the Guardian and sources briefed on American plans.

"Ideally you would want to make it all whole, right? But that's aspirational," said a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's going to take some time. It's not going to be easy."

The US military plans raise questions about Washington's commitment to turning the ceasefire announced last month into an enduring political settlement with Palestinian rule across Gaza, which was promised by Donald Trump.

Plans for Gaza's future have been shifting at a dizzying rate, reflecting a chaotic, improvised approach to resolving one of the world's most complex and intractable conflicts and providing aid including food and shelter to 2 million Palestinians.

After weeks in which the US promoted reconstruction in the form of fenced-in camps for small groups of Palestinians, referred to as “alternative safe communities” (ASC), those plans were dropped last week, the US official said. Humanitarian organisations that have raised major concerns about the ASC model said last Friday they had yet to be notified of the change of plans.

Without a plan for an international peacekeeping force, the withdrawal of Israeli troops and large-scale rebuilding, Gaza risks slipping into limbo.

Mediators have warned of a situation that is “not war but not peace” in a divided Gaza, with Israeli attacks, an entrenched occupation, no Palestinian self-rule and limited reconstruction of Palestinian homes and communities.