Bold plan for $6 billion artificial island off the Gaza strip

AN AMBITIOUS and expensive proposal to connect the Gaza strip to the rest of the world via a man-made island with an airport and huge bridge is being floated.

The island could cost millions to build. Picture: Picture: Ministry of Transportation and Israel Ports

ISRAEL is mulling whether to construct a $6 billion island off the embattled Gaza strip that could contain active seaport, an airport, and maybe even a hotel.

Israeli Minister of Intelligence and Transportation Israel Katz said the country is looking for investors on the plan, and looking at Saudi and Chinese construction companies to build the massive project. No timetable has been set for the project near the impoverished area, along the Mediterranean coast between Egypt and Israel, which is surrounded by water and the Jewish state. Israel keeps tight control in and out of the region, fearing weapons could come to Gaza and its ruling Hamas Party — regarded as a terrorist organisation by the US. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is exploring the option but has not yet made a determination”, an Israeli official involved in the talks told the Washington Post. Israel wouldn’t directly pay for the island but would allow contractors to come through the nation and its waters to build it, Katz said. An international force would be responsible for security on the island-to-Gaza bridge, he added. About 800 truckloads of goods are allowed into Gaza each day, supplying the 1.8 million Palestinians caught in them middle of the siege. “Opening a seaport and airport would help Gaza to end the siege, people could travel, goods could be exported and easily imported from abroad,” professor Mokhamir Abu Sa’da, from Al-Zahar University in Gaza, told the Washington Post. “If you talk to ordinary people in the street now, I am sure people would accept it and would be happy. After 10 years of blockade and three wars and daily difficulties, people are looking for hope.” This story originally appeared on the NYPost.