U.S. President Donald Trump listens to his son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Oval Office, on September 11, 2020, at the White House. (Credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP.)
BEIRUT — President Donald Trump presided over a meeting Wednesday on Israel's war in Gaza and postwar plans for the Palestinian territory, attended by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Trump's former Middle East envoy, Jared Kushner, a senior White House official said.
They discussed the hostage crisis, plans to intensify the delivery of food aid, postwar projects and other topics, the official told Reuters. The official described the meeting as a "simple political meeting" that Trump and his team often hold.
Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, was a key White House adviser on the Middle East during Trump's first term. Blair was prime minister during the 2003 Iraq war, for which he faced harsh criticism.
Trump had promised a swift end to the war in Gaza during his presidential campaign, but a resolution remains elusive seven months after the start of his second term, which began with a two-month cease-fire that ended when Israeli strikes killed about 400 Palestinians on March 18.
More recently, images of starving Palestinians in Gaza, including children, have shocked the world and fueled criticism of Israel, a U.S. ally, in light of deteriorating humanitarian conditions.
Riviera and relocation plan
In February, Trump proposed an American takeover of Gaza and the permanent relocation of Palestinians from the coastal territory. The plan was condemned worldwide and described as a proposal for "ethnic cleansing" by human rights experts and the United Nations.
Forced displacement is illegal under international law. The American president presented the plan — which he has not spoken about publicly in recent weeks — as a redevelopment idea to transform Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
The plan recalled an idea advanced by Kushner a year earlier to remove Gaza's Palestinian residents and turn it into a coastal real estate zone.
The Financial Times also reported in July that the Tony Blair Institute had participated in a project to develop a plan for Gaza after the war. The think tank clarified that it "has held many discussions with different groups on the reconstruction of Gaza after the war, but that none included the idea of forced relocation of Gaza residents."
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio met in Washington with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and discussed Gaza and regional issues. Asked after the meeting about a potential Palestinian state, Saar said there would not be one. Some U.S. allies in recent weeks have announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state.
Israel’s devastating offensive in Gaza since October 2023 has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. It has also triggered a food crisis, displaced the entire population of Gaza within the territory, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes in international courts — allegations Israel denies.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was sparked in October 2023 when Hamas fighters attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
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