Palestinian Territory – The consequences of the US plan to support dividing the Gaza Strip into green and red zones separated by a yellow military line carry grave risks, including the effective displacement of Palestinians from their homes and the transformation of large parts of Gaza into closed military zones under the direct control of the Israeli army.
This plan entrenches long-term illegal control and the forcible de facto annexation of territory. It imposes unlawful collective imprisonment on the civilian population, in clear violation of international law and the Palestinian people's right to self-determination.
Preliminary information indicates that the US plan for the Gaza Strip, being developed through the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), is based on imposing a rigid geographical separation system that divides Gaza into population blocks and closed military zones.
Accordingly, more than half of the Gaza Strip is effectively designated as a closed military zone under the direct control of the Israeli army. Within this area, strict control and management systems are imposed through severe restrictions on movement, the regulation of aid and basic services, and the deprivation of fundamental rights. These measures are used as tools of coercion to force the population to leave their homes and relocate to designated "safe" areas within the same closed zone, without any genuine option to remain or return.
The first phase of the plan divides the Gaza Strip into a red zone covering 47 per cent, which contains most of the civilian population, and a green zone covering 53 per cent, which is under full Israeli military control and where armed groups established and armed by Israel are deployed. The two zones will be separated by a yellow line designated as a military buffer area, in which Israeli forces will apply a shoot-to-kill policy against anyone who approaches or attempts to cross it.
The yellow line, marked by concrete blocks, has not remained fixed but has been pushed beyond the published maps, advancing in some areas by more than one kilometre inside the Gaza Strip. It is used to unilaterally redraw lines of military control, gradually expanding areas under direct Israeli authority, placing additional territory under closed military rule, and severely restricting freedom of movement. This practice entrenches de facto annexation and fragments Gaza's territorial unity in clear violation of international law.
The plan intersects with Israeli efforts to impose full control over the Gaza Strip's coastline, designated on the plan's map as a "red zone," and to transform it into a closed area under direct Israeli security and economic domination. This would effectively place Gaza's maritime resources, including fishing waters, gas fields, and existing and potential coastal infrastructure, under Israeli control.
This approach constitutes an illegal seizure and systematic plundering of the resources of an occupied territory. It contradicts the established principle in international law regarding the permanent sovereignty of peoples over their natural resources, and the obligations of the occupying power not to seize public or private property and not to exploit the natural resources of the occupied territory for its exclusive benefit, especially when this is done within the framework of long-term arrangements that undermine the Palestinian people's right to manage their own resources and maritime domain.
According to information obtained by Euro Med Monitor, the plan is based on transferring the Palestinian population from the red zone to the green zone through various pressure tactics. This is done by creating a coercive environment in the red zone and making access to relative protection and basic services conditional on relocating to designated areas within the green zone, following extensive security screening and vetting. This removes any genuine element of consent and places the process squarely within the scope of forced displacement prohibited under international humanitarian law.
The plan includes the establishment of "cities" of prefabricated container homes (caravans) in the green zone, each housing around 25,000 people within an area of no more than one square kilometre and enclosed by walls and checkpoints. Entry and exit would be permitted only through security screening, effectively converting these sites into overcrowded detention camps that impose severe restrictions on residents' freedom of movement and daily life.
The design of these proposed cities mirrors the historical model of ghettos, in which colonial and racist regimes confined specific groups to sealed areas surrounded by walls and guard posts, with movement and resources controlled externally, as seen in Europe during World War II and in other colonial contexts. This system of forced spatial segregation does not constitute "temporary shelter," but rather creates imposed population enclaves in which entire communities are subjected to management and control instead of being treated as individuals entitled to freedom of movement, residence, and life in their original communities.
Available information indicates that the engineering units responsible for the plan have already begun preparing designs for the first experimental city in Rafah, pending the securing of funding to commence on the ground implementation.
The plan is based on systematic discrimination against Palestinians, as relocation to the temporary "cities" in the green zone is conditional on passing security screening set by Israeli and US authorities. This enables the exclusion of wide categories deemed either "not meeting the requirements" or "posing a security risk," including those with political or organisational affiliations or civic activity deemed non-aligned with the imposed arrangements, leaving them in areas more exposed to siege and danger. As a result, protection and basic services such as housing, food, and healthcare are transformed from universal rights into tools of selection and coercion, granted or denied based on unilateral security and political assessments.
Life within these temporary cities would be subject to arbitrary security control and externally imposed governance arrangements, leaving residents with no genuine choice to accept or reject them and denying them any role in managing their public affairs. This entrenches a new political and administrative reality that places the future of the Gaza Strip, the identity of its residents, and their right to self-determination on their land under direct threat due to external interference.
The plan goes beyond temporary security or humanitarian measures and forms part of a broader strategy to fragment the unity of the Palestinian land and people. It seeks to entrench a permanent separation between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by imposing a "starting from scratch" approach through the creation of a new authority in Gaza, separate from the national framework and existing representative institutions and subject to the conditions of the plan's sponsors. This would re-engineer the Palestinian political structure against the will of people living under occupation, threatening fundamental rights, undermining the social and political fabric, and gravely weakening the inalienable right to self-determination over all occupied Palestinian land.
Euro Med Monitor strongly condemns the United States' role in formulating and sponsoring this plan, stressing that it is not acting as a "mediator" or humanitarian supporter but as an active party designing a political and operational framework that entrenches occupation, de facto annexation, and forced displacement under the guise of security and humanitarian arrangements. Washington's supervision of the CMCC, its leadership of the planning process, and its efforts to channel the plan through international frameworks violate its duty under international law not to recognise or assist illegal situations, and raise serious concerns of complicity in grave violations, including forced population transfer, unlawful seizure of land and resources, and the undermining of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination.
The international community must recognise that no arrangements in Gaza can constitute a solution, or even a legitimate temporary administration, unless they are first based on ending the occupation through a complete and unconditional Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory. This requires ending the illegal military, administrative, and settlement presence, lifting the land, sea, and air blockade, guaranteeing freedom of movement and access including the unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials, and enabling the population to rebuild its homes, infrastructure, and civil institutions independently, in full respect of the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination on their land.
States and international actors, foremost among them the United Nations and the States Parties to the Geneva Conventions, must reject any plan or field arrangement that maintains or reproduces Israeli control through ghettos or transitional zones, and must refrain from recognising or assisting any situation involving forced population transfer, de facto annexation, exploitation of occupied territory resources, or the undermining of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination.
Immediate pressure must be applied to lift the blockade, open crossings for aid and reconstruction materials, guarantee Palestinians' right to manage their own affairs and freely choose their representatives, and support international accountability mechanisms to ensure that crimes and violations do not go unpunished.
