Israel and the Palestinians also agreed that the homes in the Gaza settlements will be destroyed. "You have 1,200 plus houses, you have a population of 1.3 million Palestinians, and I think that the view is that there are better land use opportunities,” Rice said. The aim is to replace the settler homes with high rise apartments to ease the Palestinian housing shortage. Under the plan, Israel will demolish the homes after the settlers are evacuated, and the Palestinians will evacuate the rubble. The US will seek financing for the project.