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Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday said that the devastated Gaza Strip was a potential real estate “bonanza” and that he was in talks with the United States on how to divide up the coastal enclave after the war.

“There is enormous real estate wealth in Gaza, and we will share it with the Americans,” Smotrich said at the Urban Regeneration Summit of the Real Estate Center in Tel Aviv.

When asked about the possibility of establishing Israeli settlements in Gaza, Smotrich replied that “a business plan prepared by experts is already on the table of US President Donald Trump.” He added: “We have completed the demolition phase, and now we must build.”

Smotrich further stated: “We paid a heavy price in this war, and we must divide the land. We are serious about this and have spoken with the Americans,” signalling his government’s intent to exploit Israel’s war on Gaza to entrench new settlement realities.

He also took a swipe at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent call for Israel to become a “Super Sparta,” arguing instead: “There is no need for an internal industrial blitz. Rather, Israel’s military power must be strengthened in other ways.”

His remarks come amid mounting Palestinian and international warnings that Israel is using the devastation in Gaza as cover to advance forced displacement and ethnic cleansing schemes.

READ: Israeli forces push into new areas of Gaza City

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.