Gaza
Army Radio says Netanyahu approved groundwork for housing in eastern Rafah
Graphic: Times of Palestine
Original Reporting
Israel's prime minister and defence minister approved the start of infrastructure work at a site in eastern Rafah set aside for Palestinian housing, the Israeli army's own radio station reported on Sunday. The decision was taken about two weeks ago and had not been disclosed.
Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel Katz signed off on earthworks and on water, sewage and electricity lines at the site Israeli officials call "Green Rafah", the Army Radio correspondents Doron Kadosh and Moriah Asraf reported, clearing contractors and work crews to enter the ground.
The approval was given at the same sitting that approved the deployment of a multinational force to Gaza, according to the same report.
The address is the story#
Where the site sits decides what it means. "Green Rafah" lies east of the yellow line — inside the strip of Gaza the Israeli army holds, an area the report described as cleared and standing empty.
That is not a technicality for anyone who would live there. The yellow line was drawn when the October 2025 ceasefire took effect to separate Israeli forces in the east from the areas where Palestinians could remain, and it has moved since.
The UN humanitarian office recorded the restricted-access zone at 64.9 percent of the Gaza Strip by June 2026, against roughly 53 percent at the ceasefire's start. A residential quarter built east of that line would place its residents behind it.
The restricted-access zone reached 64.9% of Gaza by June 2026, from about 53% when the ceasefire began.
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Who builds it, and who says what#
Palestinians from Gaza would carry out the construction after security vetting by the Shin Bet, Army Radio reported.
The Prime Minister's Office rejected that account. It said the report "distorts the facts and recycles old information", described the work as a United Arab Emirates pilot that has been running for several months, and denied that Palestinian workers would carry out critical infrastructure work.
Miri Regev, the transport minister, welcomed the plan. "We want Gaza to recover — the process can begin in any demilitarised zone," she said.
The objection inside Israel came from the other direction. The Israel Envelope Forum and the group Tzav 9, which spent much of the war blocking aid convoys, opposed reconstruction in any area the army might later leave: "There is no demilitarised zone that is not held by our fighters."
What the record does not yet show#
No number of housing units has been published, and no Palestinian municipality, ministry or contractor has been named as a partner in the scheme.
Army Radio reported that mobile homes and temporary structures at the site have not been authorised until after the coming Israeli election, which is set for 27 October.
Nor is the project's relationship to the wider reconstruction file established. The Board of Peace has been preparing a pilot housing project of its own in Gaza without securing a green light, the Times of Israel reported, and the two plans have not been publicly connected.
The idea of a rebuilt Rafah under Israeli security control is not new to Palestinians. The Intercept reported in January on planning for a "New Rafah" whose design proceeded without Palestinians at the table, and the questions it raised then — who may enter, who may leave, who holds the permits — are the questions the earthworks now approved leave open.
