Kushner presents plan for glitzy Gaza rebuild, aiming for ‘catastrophic success’

Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner on Thursday presented a plan to rebuild war-torn Gaza into a glitzy resort, which he said could happen in three years if Hamas demilitarizes in accordance with the next phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

“Without that, we can’t rebuild,” said Kushner at the signing ceremony in Davos for the Trump-chaired Board of Peace, which, according to the plan, is supposed to oversee the Strip’s reconstruction. “If Hamas does not demilitarize, that will be what holds back Gaza and the people of Gaza from achieving their aspiration.”

Kushner ended his presentation with a plea to Israel’s critics and to “Israelis criticizing Turkey or Qatar” — Hamas-supporting Board members whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep out of Gaza — to “just calm down for 30 days.”

“Our goal here is peace between Israel and the Palestinian people. Everyone wants to live peacefully. Everyone wants to live with dignity,” said Kushner, noting that Trump’s peace plan had required the cooperation of Arab and Muslim nations as well as Israel.

In his own comments, Trump, who is Kushner’s father-in-law, also vowed that “we’re going to be very successful in Gaza.”

“It’s going to be a great thing to watch,” he said. “I’m a real estate person at heart… and I said, look at this location on the sea. Look at this beautiful piece of property. What it could be for so many people.”

Kushner, who has no official title but is one of Trump’s envoys for the Gaza ceasefire, said the “master plan” for Gaza’s reconstruction aimed for “catastrophic success.”

With a slide showing dozens of shiny terraced apartment towers overlooking a tree-lined promenade, he promised a Mediterranean utopia rising from the scarred Gaza landscape.

“In the Middle East they build cities like this, you know for two or three million people, they build this in three years,” Kushner said.

“And so stuff like this is very doable if we make it happen.”

NOW – Jared Kushner, unveils a slide show showing the "master plan," for the future of Gaza and asks people on media and social media to "Just calm down for 30 days… let's do our best to try working together, our goal here is peace between Israel and the Palestinian people." pic.twitter.com/1BT9nEN5FE

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) January 22, 2026

The plan includes a seaport and an airport, and will start in Rafah and move northward in phases until Gaza City, said Kushner, adding that “there is no plan B.”

The White House, he said, wants to bring “free market” economy principles to Gaza, reflecting the “same mindset, same approach” that Trump is implementing in the US.

According to Kushner, 85 percent of Gaza’s economy has consisted of aid deliveries for a long time.

“That’s not sustainable. It doesn’t give these people dignity. It doesn’t give them hope,” he said.

He pleaded for countries and businesspeople to invest in Gaza’s reconstruction, calling on them to have faith in the project despite its inherent risks.

He set a goal of $25 billion for investments to rebuild infrastructure and public services destroyed since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

“We’ll announce a lot of the contributions that will be made in a couple of weeks in Washington,” he said. “There’ll be amazing investment opportunities.”

Within 10 years of reconstruction, Gaza’s GDP would be $10 billion, and households would enjoy an average income of $13,000 a year thanks to “100 percent full employment and opportunity for everybody there,” said Kushner.

“It could be a hope. It could be a destination, have a lot of industry and really be a place that the people there can thrive,” he said.

“It all starts with security, and it all starts with governance,” Kushner said, as he displayed a slide titled “demilitarization principles.”

Jared Kushner presenting this morning at the “Board of Peace” ceremony their mock ups of “New Gaza” & “New Rafah.” pic.twitter.com/zWuhhqPVz1

— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) January 22, 2026

According to the slide, heavy weapons will be immediately decommissioned in the Strip, while personal arms will be decommissioned in areas where the new Palestinian police “becomes capable of guaranteeing personal security.”

Terror operatives who disarm will be “rewarded with amnesty and reintegration, or safe passage,” said the slide. Some, it said, will be “integrated… following rigorous vetting,” into the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) — a 12-member panel of independent Palestinian technocrats who will be overseen by the Board of Peace.

However, a subsequent slide on NCAG had its name written backwards in Arabic.

The process will be Palestinian-led and “internationally verified,” according to the slide. Its “end state” will be that “only NCAG-sanctioned personnel may carry weapons” in Gaza, the slide said.

Reconstruction will begin only in areas with full disarmament, and the IDF will complete its withdrawal to a security perimeter around the Strip only once “Gaza-wide demilitarization” is achieved, according to the slide.

On this slide @jaredkushner presented on Gaza in Davos, Arabic is printed in reverse pic.twitter.com/sWWxzT7O1d

— Daniella Cheslow (@DaniellaCheslow) January 22, 2026

The NCAG had enlisted help from Israeli real estate developer Yakir Gabay in Gaza’s reconstruction, said Kushner.

“He’s volunteered to do this not for profit, really because of his heart; he wants to do this,” Kushner said. “So the next 100 days, we’re going to continue to just be heads down and focused on making sure this is implemented.”

He also presented the NCAG’s mission statement, which said members were committed to security, peace, democracy, justice and “essential services that form the bedrock of human dignity.”