DaysofPal – The Gaza Center for Human Rights (GCHR) has raised strong objections to reports that the United States is supporting a plan to build residential complexes for Palestinians within areas of the Gaza Strip that remain under Israeli military control.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the initiative would be managed by a US-led civil–military coordination body that includes American forces. In a statement on Saturday, GCHR described the plan as part of a joint US-Israeli strategy that ties reconstruction and basic human rights to political and security conditions, an approach the group says violates international humanitarian law.
GCHR warned that the proposed administrative framework would place Gaza’s population under a dual military system and could reshape the enclave’s demographic structure. Such a model, it argued, threatens Palestinians’ rights to housing, freedom of movement, safety, and land ownership.
Although framed as an engineering effort aimed at clearing debris and preparing sites for construction, the center said the project represents a deeper form of social engineering designed to impose new on-the-ground realities without Palestinian consent.
The plan, GCHR stated, treats civilians as “subjects for political experimentation” and disregards the international obligation to center reconstruction on the rights and needs of affected communities.
The organization also voiced alarm over the involvement of military and engineering teams, saying this reflects a continued neglect of civilian protection and fails to restore rights stripped away during the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza.
GCHR linked the plan to broader international developments, including the UN Security Council’s November 17 approval of Resolution 2803, which it argues reinforces Israeli control while undermining Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
The group further warned that the proposed “Peace Council and international force” could deploy humanitarian aid as a tool of political pressure. It expressed concern about the participation of organizations accused of enabling or taking part in acts of genocide, such as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, along with Israeli-formed armed units.
Calling on the international community to uphold humanitarian law, GCHR stressed that coercive arrangements that relocate civilians or limit their ability to choose how and where they live are prohibited.
It insisted that any reconstruction or urban-planning initiatives must prioritize the needs and rights of Palestinians and involve genuine participation from civil society, free from political or security conditions.
The group also cautioned against allowing foreign companies or international institutions to dominate Gaza’s rebuilding, warning that such an approach risks sidelining Palestinians entirely and excluding them from shaping the recovery of their own communities.
GCHR concluded that imposing any form of foreign administration or undefined “international mandate” over Gaza would exacerbate internal divisions, isolate the territory, and further erode Palestinian national unity.
It urged the international community to prevent the use of humanitarian suffering as leverage for political re-engineering at the expense of Palestinian rights.
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