What to find out about Jared Kushner’s ‘New Gaza’ plan : NPR

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 warfare.

“We have already began eradicating the rubble and doing among the demolition,” Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, stated whereas presenting the plan lately in Davos, Switzerland.

“After which ‘New Gaza.’ It might be a hope, it might be a vacation spot, have a variety of business and actually be a spot that the folks there can thrive, have nice employment,” he stated.

The Gaza Strip is simply 25 miles lengthy and about 4 to 7 miles large. It was house to round 2.2 million folks earlier than the warfare, all residing in densely packed cities and refugee camps. Now, practically everybody lives in makeshift tents or bombed-out properties which are susceptible to collapse. The World Financial institution estimated in 2024 the price of harm to essential 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 absolutely disarmed, or already emptied of Palestinians and beneath Israeli army management.

This “New Gaza” plan, nonetheless, makes no reference to land deed transfers nor how new housing can be allotted to Palestinians. It additionally doesn’t say how households will likely be uprooted from present buildings that the plan would demolish, significantly in central Gaza and elements of western Gaza Metropolis the place many buildings are nonetheless intact.

Critics, together with folks NPR interviewed in Gaza, say it erases Gaza solely 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 warfare 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 position in crafting the plan. Each males are on the White Home-appointed Gaza Government Board that can oversee the plan and report back to Trump’s Board of Peace.

Listed below are 5 issues to know concerning the “New Gaza”:

1. Much less house for housing than earlier than the warfare

A slide from Jared Kushner’s “New Gaza” presentation in Davos, Switzerland, consists of an annotated map outlining completely different areas of the Gaza Strip.

Screenshot by NPR/Board of Peace slide deck

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Screenshot by NPR/Board of Peace slide deck

Kushner’s plan envisions 4 district-like areas for Palestinians to dwell in, nestled between massive 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, based on the plan.

A report printed by the U.N.-Habitat company in 2024 stated 87% of Gaza was city space and practically all the remainder was refugee camps, describing the territory as “absolutely urbanized.”

Which means the plan leaves far much less room for Palestinian housing than existed earlier than the warfare, suggesting a smaller inhabitants in Gaza.

NPR requested the White Home-appointed Gaza Government Board whether or not the plan takes into consideration the total 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 present

The plan lays out phases for rebuilding, beginning with the south. Two areas labeled as “Gaza Metropolis” to the north can be constructed within the final, fourth section.

Gaza’s residential areas can be divided into quadrants, labeled as Rafah, Khan Younis, Middle Camps and Gaza Metropolis. They’d be disconnected from each other, and divided by massive inexperienced areas designated for parks, agriculture and sports activities amenities. Just a few primary 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 information facilities and superior manufacturing. It might raze different elements of Gaza to the bottom to be rebuilt.

“You are going to take away folks’s properties 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 army that is being razed to construct the primary such group.

“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 unbiased 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 meanwhile.

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 way of border crossings Israel controls.

However beneath the plan, Gaza’s single border crossing with Egypt, often 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 warfare 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 recognized principally for its smuggling tunnels with Egypt, however Kushner’s plan envisions the town as Gaza’s logistics and presumably administrative hub.

Rafah, at this time, is sort of void of residents and beneath Israeli army 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 warfare was closely within the north close to Israel, can be pushed south.

Described as “New Rafah,” there can be 100,000-plus everlasting housing models, based on Kushner’s plan. Previous to the warfare, all of Gaza had practically 600,000 flats and housing models for two.2 million folks, based on the U.N.-Habitat report. It famous a essential housing scarcity even earlier than Israeli assaults destroyed or broken greater than 90% of properties.

The brand new plan additionally says there will likely be some 200 academic facilities in “New Rafah.” Earlier than the warfare, Gaza had round 700 colleges, together with personal, public and U.N.-school buildings, based on figures obtained by NPR from the U.N. aid company for Palestinians, often known as UNRWA, and the Palestinian Schooling Ministry. As well as, there have been 17 larger training establishments, or universities.

An Israeli official informed NPR the bottom in Rafah is being ready to be cleared of unexploded ordnance and tunnels as a way to arrange short-term 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 can 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

Everything 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 kind a brand new skyline alongside Gaza’s coast, resembling a billionaire’s playground very like Dubai.

Palestinian residents of Gaza would possible be priced out of this prime, new actual property. Gaza’s shoreline earlier than the warfare included condominium buildings, native lodges, cafes and public seashores. These seashores are folks’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.