Jared Kushner speaks after the signing of a Board of Peace constitution in the course of the annual assembly of the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22.
Evan Vucci/AP
cover caption
toggle caption
Evan Vucci/AP
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Loft-style flats with floor-to-ceiling home windows, an off-shore oil and fuel rig, superior industrial zones and park-lined neighborhoods. That is “New Gaza,” a imaginative and prescient laid out by the Trump administration for the destroyed Palestinian territory after two years of battle.
“We have already began eradicating the rubble and doing a number of the demolition,” Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, stated whereas presenting the plan just lately in Davos, Switzerland.
“After which ‘New Gaza.’ It may very well be a hope, it may very well be a vacation spot, have a variety of trade and actually be a spot that the individuals there can thrive, have nice employment,” he stated.
The Gaza Strip is just 25 miles lengthy and about 4 to 7 miles large. It was house to round 2.2 million individuals earlier than the battle, all residing in densely packed cities and refugee camps. Now, almost everybody lives in makeshift tents or bombed-out houses which are prone to collapse. The World Financial institution estimated in 2024 the price of harm to crucial infrastructure alone was greater than $18 billion.
The plan laid out by Kushner rests on Trump’s ceasefire deal, which calls for that Hamas decommission its weapons as Israel withdraws from Gaza in phases. Reconstruction would solely start in areas of Gaza the place Hamas is totally disarmed, or already emptied of Palestinians and beneath Israeli navy management.
This “New Gaza” plan, nonetheless, makes no reference to land deed transfers nor how new housing could be allotted to Palestinians. It additionally doesn’t say how households will probably be uprooted from current buildings that the plan would demolish, significantly in central Gaza and components of western Gaza Metropolis the place many buildings are nonetheless intact.
Critics, together with individuals NPR interviewed in Gaza, say it erases Gaza fully and turns it into an funding alternative atop the ruins of what a U.N. fee decided was a genocide dedicated by Israel. Israel denies the allegation, and is preventing battle crimes prices internationally.
It is unclear if any Palestinians have been consulted within the “New Gaza” imaginative and prescient unveiled by Kushner, however he says Israeli actual property investor, Yakir Gabay, performed a key function in crafting the plan. Each males are on the White Home-appointed Gaza Government Board that may oversee the plan and report back to Trump’s Board of Peace.
Listed below are 5 issues to know in regards to the “New Gaza”:
1. Much less house for housing than earlier than the battle
A slide from Jared Kushner’s “New Gaza” presentation in Davos, Switzerland, contains an annotated map outlining totally different areas of the Gaza Strip.
Screenshot by NPR/Board of Peace slide deck
cover caption
toggle caption
Screenshot by NPR/Board of Peace slide deck
Kushner’s plan envisions 4 district-like areas for Palestinians to reside in, nestled between giant inexperienced areas for parks and industrial zones that seem equal in measurement or bigger than the areas designated for housing. These industrial zones would create greater than half one million jobs for Palestinians in Gaza, in response to the plan.
A report printed by the U.N.-Habitat company in 2024 stated 87% of Gaza was city space and almost all the remainder was refugee camps, describing the territory as “totally urbanized.”
Which means the plan leaves far much less room for Palestinian housing than existed earlier than the battle, suggesting a smaller inhabitants in Gaza.
NPR requested the White Home-appointed Gaza Government Board whether or not the plan takes into consideration the complete inhabitants of Gaza. A spokesperson, who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate particulars of the plans, stated the figures introduced for the primary section of reconstruction are “simply the beginning,” with out elaborating.
2. Reshaped cities with some not current
The plan lays out phases for rebuilding, beginning with the south. Two areas labeled as “Gaza Metropolis” to the north could be constructed within the final, fourth section.
Gaza’s residential areas could be divided into quadrants, labeled as Rafah, Khan Younis, Middle Camps and Gaza Metropolis. They might be disconnected from each other, and divided by giant inexperienced areas designated for parks, agriculture and sports activities amenities. Only some most important roads join them.
The plan would erase northern Gaza cities and refugee camps like Beit Lahia and Jabalia, changing them with agricultural areas and zones designated for knowledge facilities and superior manufacturing. It might raze different components of Gaza to the bottom to be rebuilt.
“You are going to take away individuals’s houses and put parks as a substitute, however did you ask a single particular person in Gaza to do that?” stated Rami Abdel-Aal, a resident of Gaza whose house in Rafah was demolished in an space now occupied by the Israeli navy that is being razed to construct the primary such neighborhood.
“We solely need one factor: Depart us to rebuild,” he stated. “We do not need something from you. Simply go away us to rebuild.”
3. A brand new airport, however no impartial land crossing
Within the imaginative and prescient laid out by Kushner, southern Gaza would have an airport, a prepare and logistics hub, and a port — all nonexistent in the intervening time.
Gaza has been besieged by Israel since Hamas took over rule of the territory in 2007. Individuals can solely exit or enter Gaza by land with Israeli approvals by means of border crossings Israel controls.
However beneath the plan, Gaza’s single border crossing with Egypt, generally known as the Rafah crossing, would not be geographically distant from Israel. It might be moved south to the tip of Gaza and renamed a “trilateral crossing,” touching each Egypt and Israel.
Egypt has not commented on the plan, and all through the battle has rejected Israeli management of Rafah.
4. A “New Rafah” as the middle of gravity
Gaza’s southernmost metropolis of Rafah had lengthy been a quiet border city identified largely for its smuggling tunnels with Egypt, however Kushner’s plan envisions town as Gaza’s logistics and presumably administrative hub.
Rafah, at this time, is almost void of residents and beneath Israeli navy occupation. Palestinian militias armed by Israel and against Hamas function within the space.
Beneath the “New Gaza” plan, Rafah has among the many most housing of all of the areas in Gaza, suggesting the inhabitants, which earlier than the battle was closely within the north close to Israel, could be pushed south.
Described as “New Rafah,” there could be 100,000-plus everlasting housing items, in response to Kushner’s plan. Previous to the battle, all of Gaza had almost 600,000 flats and housing items for two.2 million individuals, in response to the U.N.-Habitat report. It famous a crucial housing scarcity even earlier than Israeli assaults destroyed or broken greater than 90% of houses.
The brand new plan additionally says there will probably be some 200 academic facilities in “New Rafah.” Earlier than the battle, Gaza had round 700 faculties, together with non-public, public and U.N.-school buildings, in response to figures obtained by NPR from the U.N. aid company for Palestinians, generally known as UNRWA, and the Palestinian Training Ministry. As well as, there have been 17 larger training establishments, or universities.
An Israeli official advised NPR the bottom in Rafah is being ready to be cleared of unexploded ordnance and tunnels with a purpose to arrange non permanent housing. The official spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to debate particulars of the preparations. The official stated that Kushner and U.S. particular envoy Steve Witkoff have requested Israel to speed up operations clearing rubble in Rafah, the place a neighborhood funded by the United Arab Emirates could be constructed to accommodate 1000’s of civilians from Gaza.
The UAE’s authorities didn’t reply to a request for remark.
5. A shoreline for vacationers and traders
The whole thing of Gaza’s Mediterranean shoreline is designated beneath the plan as an space for “coastal tourism” with 180 “combined use” towers.
The visuals for the plan are stark, and look nothing like Gaza. Futuristic towers would type a brand new skyline alongside Gaza’s coast, resembling a billionaire’s playground very like Dubai.
Palestinian residents of Gaza would doubtless be priced out of this prime, new actual property. Gaza’s shoreline earlier than the battle included house buildings, native inns, cafes and public seashores. These seashores are individuals’s solely escape from Gaza’s in any other case densely packed terrain.
Anas Baba in Gaza Metropolis, Ahmed Abuhamda in Cairo and Itay Stern and Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
