President Donald Trump is recruiting his son-in-law and former White House adviser, Jared Kushner, to help map out Gaza's post-war future.
According to Axios, Kushner attended a lengthy White House meeting Wednesday where Trump and his top advisers discussed plans to rebuild Gaza once Hamas is no longer in power. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was another notable outsider at the huddle.
Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, who is Trump's eldest daughter, have avoided the political spotlight since leaving their roles as senior advisers in the first Trump administration.
Trump's son-in-law has deep personal ties to the Middle East, and Kushner was instrumental to the Abraham Accords, the crowning diplomatic achievement of Trump's first term that normalized ties between Israel and several Arab states.
Kushner's informal return to the White House comes as Trump warms to an Israeli plan to occupy Gaza City and annihilate Hamas, which has governed the war-torn Gaza Strip since 2007.
Top Israeli official Ron Dermer assured Trump at Wednesday's meeting that Israel has no desire to occupy Gaza permanently or expel the Palestinians. But who would rule the devastated enclave in the future remains uncertain.
Much of Gaza has been destroyed since Israel's war with Hamas began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 Israelis and took dozens captive. More than 63,000 Palestinians, including civilians and combatants, have since been killed in Israel's military offensive.
Trump's efforts to secure a durable peace have proven elusive so far.
Wednesday's meeting was reportedly inconclusive, but Trump gave Kushner and Blair approval to keep developing a plan for Gaza's post-war future, Axios reported.
Trump's own vision for Gaza has been a moving target. He previously toyed with expelling Palestinians and developing the strip into a resort, a proposal that faced furious backlash. Kushner has echoed Trump's idea in the past, saying Gaza's waterfront has "valuable" potential.
At Wednesday's meeting, Kushner and Blair shared some proposals that they had run by special envoy Steve Witkoff in the past, but never with Trump himself, according to Axios.
"They tried to give an idea of how Gaza could be governed and how you create an environment for investment so that reconstruction can happen. The goal was to run the ideas by Trump to see if he likes them and want to move forward, so that Witkoff and Rubio can use them," a source said.
In an interview with Fox News, Witkoff said the administration is putting together a "very comprehensive plan" for peace and stability.
“It’s a very comprehensive plan we’re putting together on the next day that I think many people are going to be -- they’re going to see how robust it is and how well-meaning it is,” Witkoff said. “And it reflects President Trump’s humanitarian motives here."
