Refugee camp in Rafah (archive image): The new plans do not provide for any buildings.Image: www.imago-images.de
Donald Trump’s “Peace Council” promised Gaza a quick reconstruction. Now there are new plans. The criticism of this is severe.
July 18, 2026, 9:49 p.mJuly 18, 2026, 9:52 p.m
Julian Alexander Fischer / t-online
Shortly after US President Donald Trump founded his “Peace Council” in January, the new body presented an ambitious plan for the redesign of the Gaza Strip. A Palestinian self-administered area with large office towers and shiny apartments in a futuristic design. Water, sewage and electricity supplies as well as hospitals and bakeries should be built within 100 days. Unlimited aid deliveries were promised.
Six months later, there apparently isn’t much left of it. The British newspaper “Guardian” reports that the original plans have shrunk to a small pilot project in the south of the country.
These new plans are attracting loud criticism. Even people close to the “Peace Council” reject the plan. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, for example, speaks of a “concentration camp”. Financing is also uncertain. And so it is questionable to what extent the plans can even be implemented.
New Gaza plans from the “Peace Council”
According to the Guardian, the new pilot project was drawn up at a meeting in Cyprus two weeks ago after nothing had happened for five months. It is said to be near the city of Rafah, in the buffer zone between territory controlled by Hamas and the Israeli army. It is planned that security at the crossing will be monitored by Israeli security forces and a specially trained Palestinian police unit. The military should withdraw.
Food distribution in Rafah (archive photo): Living conditions are critical.Image: www.imago-images.de
Specifically planned are mobile huts for tens of thousands of internally displaced people from Gaza. Former residents of the Rafah region will apparently be given priority when settling in the pilot camp. However, it is unclear what other criteria will apply to future residents.
According to the Peace Council’s plans, a wider range of humanitarian aid supplies will be permitted in the new camp. However, the Israeli government apparently insists that no materials for reconstruction will be transported there.
The “Peace Council” project is criticized
In general, Israel’s role in the establishment of the camp turns out to be complicated. The Israeli government shows no desire to rebuild, repeatedly violates the agreed ceasefire and regularly threatens the war to break out again. Essential goods continue to arrive in the Gaza Strip only sparsely. There are also fears that Israel will claim a significant say in the recruitment of the new Palestinian police unit.
Group photo with other heads of state and government: Trump at the first meeting of his “Peace Council”.Image: keystone
Muhammad Shehada, visiting researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations, warns in the Guardian that the project is being used by Israel for propaganda purposes. “Israel is essentially trying to create an isolated and controlled Potemkin village with a tiny token population, afforded slightly better conditions than their peers in western Gaza, in order to lend credibility to its escalating campaign against the rest of Gaza with this façade of ‘progress’.”
Rejection also comes from within the “Peace Council” itself. In January, it convened a committee of 13 Palestinian experts and technocrats, the so-called National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip. The entire committee had already rejected the plan. There were apparently fears that the 2.1 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip would be too divided. This would mean that the vast majority of the population would be relegated to a lower priority level when it comes to providing humanitarian aid. Offering better food and accommodation at the pilot camp could cause mass panic.
Because of the previous rejection, according to the Guardian, only selected committee members were invited to Cyprus, where the proposal was finally decided.
Financing is still unclear
Not much has happened so far to actually implement the project. Structural preparatory measures have not yet begun, and the base for the Israeli security forces does not yet exist. According to the Guardian, only a bit of disturbed earth can be seen on satellite images.
The training of the security forces has apparently not yet begun. This is likely to take months – and the legal framework has probably not yet been negotiated with Israel. An official familiar with the planning estimates completion: “I think we’re looking at the end of 2026. If we had done it by December, I would be very happy.”
This also raises the question of financing. The “Peace Council” had originally pledged 17 billion US dollars (around 13.7 billion francs) for reconstruction. Apparently only a fraction flowed. Now the “Peace Council” is probably negotiating to use part of the 11 billion US dollars (around 8.88 billion Swiss francs) in Palestinian tax revenues and frozen bank assets confiscated by Israel for the project.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian emphasized: “These are not Israeli funds that can be withheld or negotiated with. These funds must be released immediately and unconditionally.”