Trump Administration Considers Controversial AI-Powered 'Gaza Riviera' Plan

U.S.-run 'Gaza Riviera': Trump administration weighs post-war redevelopment plan

This picture taken from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing over destroyed buildings during an Israeli strike on the besieged Palestinian territory on July 17, 2025. A document detailing plans for post-war Gaza aims to make President Donald Trump's "Gaza Riviera" vision a reality -- using mass displacement, artificial intelligence, and at least a decade of U.S. trusteeship over the war-ravaged enclave. The plan, outlined in a 38-page document that was disclosed by the Washington Post, is reportedly under consideration by Trump's administration. It involves "voluntary" relocation of Gaza's population in exchange for digital tokens, six to eight "AI-powered smart cities," and a manufacturing hub named after Elon Musk. It also calls for the entirety of Gaza's population of two million to be relocated, at least temporarily, through either what it calls voluntary departures to another country, or the moving of residents into temporary housing areas within the Strip during reconstruction. The plan was developed by some of the same Israelis behind the controversial U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to the Washington Post, which first reported on the document. The GHF, whose stated goal is to provide food inside the enclave, has received heavy criticism from U.N. experts for allegedly being "exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law." The State Department and White House did not immediately respond to CNBC requests for comment. Gaza would be under U.S. trusteeship for around ten years "until a reformed and deradicalized Palestinian Polity is ready to step in its shoes," according to the plan, entitled the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust, or GREAT Trust. It promises to transform the long-blockaded territory, on which more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023, into a glittering tourism resort and tech hub. "Reconstruction will also increase value of Gaza by ~$324B and dramatically improve quality of life," the document states. The GREAT Trust would begin under an initial U.S.-Israel bilateral agreement, and Israel would maintain "overarching rights to meet its security needs," according to the document. The State Department and White House did not immediately respond to CNBC requests for comment.

Trump mulls post-war Gaza plan featuring tokenized land: Report

A plan reportedly circulating in the Trump administration would sees the US take over Gaza and give Palestinians a digital token for their land. The Trump administration is reportedly looking at a postwar plan for Gaza that proposes using tokenized land and digital tokens to relocate and rehouse residents under a potential US takeover. The Washington Post reported on Sunday that a 38-page prospectus for a post-war Gaza, called the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust (GREAT Trust), would see the US take over the Palestinian territory under a trusteeship for at least 10 years. It would displace 2 million Gazans in a "voluntary" program, while offering them a specialized token for their land that could later be redeemed for an apartment in one of up to eight planned "smart cities" or for relocation elsewhere. Their temporary housing and food would also be subsidized for up to four years under the plan. The proposal has already attracted criticism, with Muslim civil rights organization the Council on American-Islamic Relations saying the "takeover of Gaza and the mass theft of Palestinian land through a digital token scheme is not only morally abhorrent and illegal under international law -- it would amount to a war crime of historic proportions." The Washington Post reported that the latest proposal was created by the people who spun up the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is distributing food in Gaza, with the document's financial planning done by a team that worked for the Boston Consulting Group at the time. The Post reported that two people familiar with the planning said major elements of the plan were created to implement US President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza. Still, it's unclear if the plan is what Trump envisioned or if it is being considered. The prospectus pitches an "innovative funding model" to use a land trust and "develop a blockchain registry for land and tokenization to enhance liquidity." It would tokenize Gaza using a blockchain "as record of ownership," with the land being split into tokens to allow for "fractional ownership." The tokens would be sold to investors and could be used to fund "reconstruction and humanitarian efforts" and offered on secondary markets for crypto users to speculate on, with "all token transactions [recorded] in [a] blockchain register." Gazan landowners would be given a token for handing over their land to be redeemed for cash or an apartment in the strip. Each Palestinian who leaves the territory would be given $5,000, four years of rent subsidies and food for a year. Returns on the scheme "could be reinvested in a new dedicated Palestinian Wealth Fund for the benefit of future Gazans," the plan reads, though it says the plan would be more profitable if it could increase the number of Gazans leaving the territory, claiming it is $23,000 cheaper to relocate them. The reportedly circulating prospectus would see Gaza rebuilt with between six to eight "modern and AI-powered, smart planned cities" where all services and their economies would run on "ID-based AI-powered digital systems." Related: Iran crypto flows fall 11% on Israel conflict, Nobitex hack: TRM Labs It also plans 10 "mega-projects," including ports, a highway, a railway, an AI datacentre, Dubai-style artificial resort islands and a so-called "Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone." The blockchain-infused plan comes as US President Donald Trump and his family deepen ties to the crypto industry after Trump said in February that the US should "take over" Gaza to make it the "Riviera of the Middle East."