A 38-page document is apparently circulating in Washington that proposes a resettlement of the residents of the Gaza Strip. According to the document, the territory would be placed under US administration for ten years. Meanwhile, activist Greta Thunberg is once again making her way to Gaza.

According to a media report, the US government is considering taking over the Gaza Strip and relocating its population. The Washington Post further reported that the Gaza Strip is to be placed under a US-managed trust for at least ten years. The paper cited a 38-page plan circulating within the government.

All two million Palestinian residents are to be either"voluntarily" persuaded to leave Gaza or relocated to closed-off zones within the coastal strip. Public and private investments in so-called megaprojects are to be used to build electric vehicle factories, data centers, beach resorts, and high-rise residential buildings, among other projects, the Washington Post reported. Every Palestinian willing to leave the Gaza Strip will receive $5,000 (approximately €4,280) and a year's worth of food, it added.

The plan is said to be called GREAT Trust (Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust). It is based on the US President's ideas, presented in February, to transform the Gaza Strip into a"Riviera of the Middle East," it was said.

At the time, Trump's move sparked an international outcry and widespread criticism. Experts argue that expelling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip would violate international law. Critics continue to argue that mass relocations to other countries in the region are a destabilizing factor and a security risk for the Middle East. Other critics have expressed doubts about the financing and implementation of the plan.

Thunberg wants to go to Gaza by ship again

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has set sail again aboard a Gaza aid flotilla. Around twenty Palestinian-flagged boats left the port of Barcelona at 3:30 p.m. (local time) on Sunday, carrying hundreds of activists.

"A mission like this shouldn't actually exist," Thunberg told the AFP news agency on Saturday. However, it is necessary because states and their elected representatives are not doing enough"to uphold international law, prevent war crimes, and prevent genocide." In doing so, states and governments are failing to fulfill their responsibilities and violating"their legal duty," Thunberg criticized."And in doing so, they are betraying the Palestinians, but also all of humanity."

The new Gaza aid flotilla is being organized by a group that describes itself as an "independent" organization and calls itself the Global Sumud Flotilla."Sumud" is the Arabic word for "resilience."

According to Thunberg, the activists involved aim to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and"announce the opening of an aid corridor and then bring in more aid." The action is directed against Israel's "illegal and inhumane siege of the Gaza Strip," said the 22-year-old Swede.

Brazilian activist Thiago Avila told journalists in Barcelona that it was"the largest solidarity mission in history, with more people and boats than all previous attempts combined." Boats from ports in other regions of the world will also join the effort.

In addition to the people aboard the flotilla, numerous activists in dozens of countries participated in the action, including Irish actor Liam Cunningham."The fact that the flotilla is underway demonstrates the world's failure to uphold international and humanitarian law," Cunningham told reporters. It is a"shameful time in the history of our world."

Spain supported the action. The Spanish government will"use all its diplomatic and consular resources to protect our citizens," Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said on Saturday.

In June and July, Israel thwarted two attempts by activists to bring aid to the Gaza Strip in an aid flotilla. The Israeli army stopped the ships involved, arrested the crews, and expelled them. Thunberg participated in the aid flotilla in June, which was stopped by the Israeli Navy about 185 kilometers west of the coast of the Palestinian Territories. The Swede had previously participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

dpa/säd