Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff have developed a $112.1billion plan to reinvent the Gaza strip into a luxury destination.
The president has promised that Gaza will be rebuilt after brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas following the war in October and has previously suggested it could be turned into ‘the Riviera of the Middle East.’
Kushner and Witkoff appear to have a plan to put that idea into practice with ‘Project Sunrise,’ a draft proposal developed over the last six weeks to completely revamp the area.
It pitches expensive ideas like beachside hotel property, high-speed rail and AI-optimized electricity grids, according to WSJ.
Kushner – a veteran of the real estate industry – and Witkoff worked with fellow senior White House aide Josh Greenbaum and consulted with Israeli officials and private contractors.
The draft pitches a $112.1billion cost for the project over the span of a decade, with the US supporting about half of that in grants and debt guarantees.
In turn, the debt pushed on Gaza would be repaid via the profits made from the revamp.
If approved, the plan could begin in two months, according to officials. However, they would first need to clear some 10,000 bodies under 68 million tons of rubble, while detoxifying the ground and removing unexploded bombs.
Hamas, which remains entrenched in Gaza, must also ‘demilitarize and decommission all weapons and tunnels.’
However, once it were to begin, the four-phase plan would feature temporary shelter, field hospitals and mobile clinics for those injured.
The basics would begin by building paved roads, new power lines and planting crops – before getting into the more futuristics aspects of the project.
While the US has shown its plan to Turkey and Egypt among other Gulf nations, the plan does not specify where the other half of the funding would come from for the project.
The plan also does not say whether the two million Palestinians who would be displaced by the construction would go, beyond the temporary shelter.
Officials have doubts that the project could be put in place, however, especially skeptical about Hamas disarming long enough to put the plan into action.
‘The Trump administration will continue to work diligently with our partners to sustain a lasting peace and lay the groundwork for a peaceful and prosperous Gaza,’ a White House spokesperson said in a statement.
Back in October, Trump claimed the Israel and Hamas peace deal would bring an everlasting peace to the Middle East, where residents have been dancing in the streets celebrating the anticipated end to the war.
Should Gaza’s future focus on luxury resorts or rebuilding homes and lives for its people first?
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The president also asserted not only that Gaza would be rebuilt, but also ‘the entire Middle East’ as part of the process – and claimed the rehabilitation of the war zone would be paid for by investments from neighboring Middle Eastern states.
Trump told his cabinet: ‘The whole world has come together for this. People who didn’t like each other, neighboring countries. This is a moment in time.
‘We reached a momentous breakthrough in the Middle East, something people said was never going to be done. We ended the war in Gaza. An everlasting peace.’
He added: ‘It’s really peace in the Middle East. You remember October 7 was terrible, but from the Hamas standpoint, they’ve probably lost 70,000 people. That’s big retribution. At some point, that whole thing has to stop.’
Trump pledged Hamas disarmament as part of the second phase, with hardline Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatening to topple Benjamin Netanyahu’s government unless the promise is followed through.
Under the plan, a transitional committee of Palestinians and international experts would run the territory, overseen by a new Board of Peace chaired by Donald Trump.
Hamas and other militant groups would be banned from any role in government, and all weapons, tunnels, and military infrastructure would be dismantled under independent supervision.
However Hamas has vowed to keep its weapons despite Israel insisting on full demilitarization, the question of who will control the region remains unanswered.
