The United States military is preparing a proposal that would split Gaza into a “green zone” and a “red zone” as global pressure for rebuilding the territory continues to rise. According to The Guardian, the “green zone” would be placed under Israeli and international military control, and reconstruction would begin there. The “red zone” would remain destroyed for the time being.

The plan is based on American planning documents obtained by the newspaper. These papers say that foreign troops would work with Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza. This arrangement would keep the territory divided by the current Israeli-held “yellow line”.

A US official, speaking anonymously, said the full reunification of Gaza was still far away. “Ideally, you would want to make it all whole, right? But that’s aspirational,” the official said. “It’s going to take some time. It’s not going to be easy.”

Questions Over Washington’s Long-Term Commitment

Although US officials describe the plan as practical, it has sparked doubts about how serious Washington is about turning last month’s ceasefire into a long-lasting political settlement.
President Donald Trump had earlier promised a roadmap that restored Palestinian governance across the region.

The reconstruction blueprint has changed multiple times in recent weeks. Earlier, the US had pushed the idea of fenced “alternative safe communities” for small groups of Palestinians. But the US official confirmed to The Guardian that this idea has now been abandoned. “That’s a snapshot of a concept that was put forth at a certain time,” the official said. “They’ve already moved on from that.”

International Stabilisation Force at the Centre of Trump’s Plan

A key part of Trump’s 20-point “peace plan” is the creation of an international stabilisation force (ISF). The US wants the UN Security Council to approve the force formally. The resolution is expected next week and will detail how countries should commit troops.

“The first step is we have to get the [resolution],” the US official said. “Countries are not going to make firm commitments until they actually see the language that has been passed.”

However, Trump has made it clear he will not send US soldiers into Gaza. This raises questions about who will ensure Israeli withdrawal and begin the rebuilding work.

Earlier this month, US Central Command drafted a plan that put European troops at the centre of the ISF. Documents suggest that hundreds of soldiers from Britain, France, and Germany would form the core. Troops from Germany, the Netherlands, and Nordic nations would manage logistics, intelligence, and medical operations.

Yet many European governments have criticised the idea as “delusional”. After long and difficult deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, few European leaders are willing to put their forces in another high-risk conflict zone, even though many had initially voiced support for Trump’s framework.

What the Reconstruction Plan Would Look Like

US planners expect rebuilding inside the “green zone” to act as a slow path toward reunifying Gaza. They believe Palestinians may choose to move into the controlled area once they see progress.

“As things progress and you create conditions for there to be significant progress on reconstruction, you [will] have Gazan civilians moving there beginning to thrive,” the US official told The Guardian. “People will say, ‘Hey, we want that’, and so it evolves in that direction. No one’s talking about a military operation to force it.”

However, the idea of “green zones” carries heavy historical baggage. In Iraq and Afghanistan, such zones became symbols of failure, where US forces lived behind blast walls, cut off from the communities they were meant to help.

Demilitarisation and Withdrawal Are Central to the Plan

Trump’s 20-point plan promises the demilitarisation of Palestinian factions in Gaza and a later Israeli withdrawal to a “security perimeter” on Palestinian land.
The ISF would supervise these steps and open the door for reconstruction “for the benefit of [Gaza’s] people”.

Humanitarian groups warn that rebuilding cannot wait. More than 80 percent of Gaza’s buildings have been destroyed or damaged, including almost all hospitals and schools.