In a dramatic announcement, the US has revealed transformative plans for "New Gaza," aiming to rebuild the devastated Palestinian territory with modern infrastructure and skyscrapers along the Mediterranean coast. This ambitious project was unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos as part of President Trump's newly established Board of Peace initiative, designed to end the long-standing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

President Trump expressed confidence in the plan's success, stating, "We're going to be very successful in Gaza." His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who played a key role in brokering the current ceasefire, presented detailed slides of the proposed master plan. This vision includes phased development of new residential, agricultural, and industrial areas for Gaza's 2.1 million residents.

The blueprint envisions coastal tourism developments with 180 tower-blocks and zones dedicated to industry, advanced manufacturing, and agriculture. Kushner emphasized the scale of the task, noting that 90,000 tonnes of munitions have been dropped on Gaza, leaving behind 60 million tonnes of rubble to clear. The proposal initially considered a split between a "free zone" and "Hamas zone" but ultimately aimed for a unified redevelopment effort.

A critical component of the US plan involves the construction of a new seaport and airport near the Egyptian border, along with a "trilateral crossing" at the convergence of Egyptian and Israeli borders. The redevelopment phases will start in Rafah and extend north to Gaza City, creating over 100,000 permanent housing units, 200 education centers, and 75 medical facilities.

Kushner expressed optimism about completing "New Rafah" within two to three years, emphasizing the importance of demilitarization. Hamas has faced pressure to disarm as part of the peace agreement, a condition identified as vital for stimulating investment and further development.

Last year's suggestion by President Trump that Palestinians be relocated provoked global criticism. However, current plans focus on rebuilding in place and attracting international investment. A Washington conference is set to further explore private sector involvement and funding opportunities.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains fragile. Recent Israeli strikes have killed over 477 Palestinians, with Hamas blaming Israel for undermining peace efforts. Humanitarian conditions in Gaza are dire, with almost 1 million lacking adequate shelter and 1.6 million facing severe food insecurity, according to the UN.

In Davos, Israeli President Isaac Herzog commended Trump's efforts but underscored the need for Hamas to vacate Gaza entirely. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas advocated for full implementation of the peace plan, including Israeli withdrawals and a role for the PA in Gaza's administration.

Ali Shaath, head of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), announced the opening of the Rafah border crossing, marking a significant step towards reconnecting Gaza with neighboring regions.

Despite the grand plans, skeptics question whether the initiative can overcome deep-rooted political and security challenges. The war, triggered by a deadly Hamas attack in 2023, has resulted in massive casualties, heightening the need for a viable resolution.

The proposed redevelopment offers a potential path forward, but achieving lasting peace and stability in the region depends on cooperation from all parties involved, particularly regarding the demilitarization of Gaza.

Key Takeaways

• US reveals extensive plans to rebuild Gaza with modern infrastructure and ensure regional stability.

• Success depends on Hamas disarmament and international investments to drive economic growth.

• Humanitarian challenges persist amid ongoing geopolitical tensions and reconstruction efforts.

  

Adapted by ASEAN Now from BBC 026-01-22

 

 

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Why bother the people of Gaza will mess this up.

27 minutes ago, Effective altruism said:

Why bother the people of Gaza will mess this up.

You think this development is for the people of Gaza? Dream on.

This is about making money, nothing more.

This proposal is not a peace plan – it is disaster capitalism dressed up as humanitarian concern. Talking about seaports, airports, and “New Rafah” while thousands of Palestinian women and children are still buried under rubble is obscene. You cannot pave over mass graves and call it redevelopment. You cannot bomb a people into submission and then lecture them about “demilitarization” as a precondition for investment.

This plan ignores the most basic principle of international law: Palestinian self-determination. Gaza is not an empty real-estate project waiting for foreign investors; it is the homeland of a people who have been systematically besieged, displaced, and dehumanised. The idea that Gaza must first be “cleared,” pacified, and politically neutered before it deserves reconstruction exposes the truth – this was always about removing Palestinians, not rebuilding their lives.

The emphasis on Rafah, trilateral crossings, and border-controlled infrastructure reveals the real objective: total external control, not freedom or sovereignty. An airport and seaport that Palestinians do not control are not symbols of independence – they are tools of containment. Rebuilding under occupation is not peace; it is managed captivity.

Demanding Hamas’s disarmament while Israel continues unchecked military operations, illegal occupation, and collective punishment is not balance – it is coercion. No people on earth are expected to surrender all means of resistance while still under siege, starvation, and bombardment. That expectation alone proves this is not a good-faith peace effort.

Trump’s earlier suggestion to relocate Palestinians was rightly condemned as ethnic cleansing. Rebranding the same logic as “rebuilding in place” does not change the underlying intent when entire neighbourhoods are flattened, survival conditions are deliberately destroyed, and displacement is engineered by force. Reconstruction after annihilation is not generosity – it is complicity.

Quoting investment figures and development timelines while 1.6 million people face severe food insecurity and nearly a million have no shelter is morally grotesque. Gaza does not need Davos conferences and glossy blueprints. Gaza needs an immediate end to the bombing, accountability for war crimes, unrestricted humanitarian access, and the recognition of Palestinians as a people with rights – not obstacles to be managed.

There can be no “New Gaza” built on the denial of justice. Peace does not begin with demilitarization imposed by occupiers and their allies. It begins with ending occupation, recognising Palestinian sovereignty, and allowing Palestinians – not Washington, not Tel Aviv, not investors – to decide their own future.

Anything less is not peace.
It is erasure.

Very well said @JimCM 👍

Whatever happens next in Gaza has to be decided by Palestinians. Israel MUST pay for rebuilding all that they destroyed. Ceasefire? Hogwash! Israel killed three journalists this week.

If the world, not just the US, wants to build this monster, only Palestinians MUST be hired. Every cent spent must be accounted for and any profits must go directly to Gazans.

What did these vulture nations do to stop Israel murdering Palestinian civilians, bombing homes, schools, hospitals. Creating the world's largest number of child amputees ever.

Now the fatcats want to steal some more land from the poor. And who are going to be the tourists in this fantastic Mediterranean resort? Israeli murderers. What industries? Israel only makes weapons & spycraft. Who is going to live in those giant highrises.

My hope is that this is just a concept of a plan which will never get on Palestinian ground.

This so-called peace plan for Gaza is a pact with the devil if initiated by Trump.

On 1/23/2026 at 1:45 PM, unblocktheplanet said:

Whatever happens next in Gaza has to be decided by Palestinians. Israel MUST pay for rebuilding all that they destroyed. Ceasefire? Hogwash! Israel killed three journalists this week.

If the world, not just the US, wants to build this monster, only Palestinians MUST be hired. Every cent spent must be accounted for and any profits must go directly to Gazans.

What did these vulture nations do to stop Israel murdering Palestinian civilians, bombing homes, schools, hospitals. Creating the world's largest number of child amputees ever.

Now the fatcats want to steal some more land from the poor. And who are going to be the tourists in this fantastic Mediterranean resort? Israeli murderers. What industries? Israel only makes weapons & spycraft. Who is going to live in those giant highrises.

My hope is that this is just a concept of a plan which will never get on Palestinian ground.

You can blame your Hamas 100% for this mess. Israel is the effect not the cause. And they are muslims not Palestinians.

Still waiting for Hamas to disarm.

2 hours ago, koolkarl said:

You can blame your Hamas 100% for this mess. Israel is the effect not the cause. And they are muslims not Palestinians.

With the complicit support of the Palestinians population. They weren't all firing missiles and murdering kids at a music festival but by their non action are complicit.

Don't recall any Palestinians criticising the massacre.

FAFO. And they are now.

Go Israel!!

F the bleeding hearts.

1 hour ago, Anthony mellows said:

Still waiting for Hamas to disarm.

Still waiting for the IDF to disarm.

49 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

by their non action are complicit.

You read Osama Bin Laden's letter to America too.

1 minute ago, johng said:

You read Osama Bin Laden's letter to America too.

He's dead. So no, I haven't read them.

As far as I know he only wrote one letter explaining to America why what happened happened

you can find it here.

https://archive.org/download/bin-ladens-letter-to-america_November/Bin%20Laden%27s%20Letter%20to%20America_text.pdf

25 minutes ago, johng said:

Still waiting for the IDF to disarm.

Why would any same person expect the IDF to disarm.

I know, and you know, that as long as Hamas has one breathing member the hatred and violence against Israel will continue. There will never be peace.

Remember the Daleks in Dr Who?

Similar situation. Everyone of the scum must be exterminated.

That includes the religious leaders in Iran.

Most of the middle east have accepted Israel in one form or another. Nobody, including the Iranian people want the Ayatollahs to continue in power. Without their backing Hamas would cease to exist and peace may finally break out in the middle east.

16 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

Why would any same person expect the IDF to disarm

Because they have killed the most people..unarmed women, children,doctors,reporters,aid workers and a lot of Hamas too..if they disarm I'd think 90% of the killing would stop.

20 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

Everyone of the scum must be exterminated.

Exactly !!!! that's why there will never be peace.

3 minutes ago, johng said:

Because they have killed the most people..unarmed women, children,doctors,reporters,aid workers and a lot of Hamas too..if they disarm I'd think 90% of the killing would stop.

If they disarm the slaughter of Israelis will kick up to an inconceivable level not seen since the Holocaust.

Possibly the start of WW3.

1 hour ago, johng said:

Still waiting for the IDF to disarm.

As usual from your side .

Reply and just change the words around :)

On 1/23/2026 at 7:12 AM, JimCM said:

Gaza is not an empty real-estate project waiting for foreign investors

Indeed, in all this "great" proposals I have seen indicate nothing, on how Trump and his cronies will acquire the land needed; although most is covered in rubble, I am sure the concept of private ownership exists in Gaza, so each little parcel belongs to somebody.

I would take the wild guess that the housing shown in the slides is not built to be given away for free to the previous inhabitants.

Building a resort or even housing over everything is otherwise nothing more than theft.

As many people in Nazi Germany learned: buying up distressed Jewish properties lead only to those illegally bought possessions given back to the rightful heirs after the second world war.

I would not want to be in "investor" in a Gaza resort where this could happen at any point in time, even decades into the future.

On 1/23/2026 at 8:13 AM, JBChiangRai said:

You think this development is for the people of Gaza? Dream on.

This is about making money, nothing more.

It's going to be Trumpland. Big Arches welcome to Trumpland. It will be trump hotels, casinos and Trump fun parks. New holiday destinations for the Trumphards.🤣🤣🤣🤣😭🤣🤣🤣😭

23 hours ago, koolkarl said:

You can blame your Hamas 100% for this mess. Israel is the effect not the cause. And they are muslims not Palestinians.

Israel, my friend, was just waiting for an excuse. And they got one from amoral terrorists. That does mean Israel gets to act like barbarian hordes. The land theft is just one example of how this has played out.

19 hours ago, emptypockets said:

He's dead. So no, I haven't read them.

Yeah, murdered without habeas corpus of trial. I'm not defending bin Laden. But the US did not follow the rules of engagement or the rule of law. Not to be a conspiracist but there may well be revelations, say, about Saudi funding, that Washington would not want to come out.

For me, the pols really showed their true vicious nature in that Situation Room with Hillary chortling as Osama was murdered. I'll never vote. It doesn't change anything.

The Palestinians really need those glitzy hotels Jared has on his master plan.

Silly me, there was I thinking the Palestinians were going to live in Gaza.

17 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

The Palestinians really need those glitzy hotels Jared has on his master plan.

Silly me, there was I thinking the Palestinians were going to live in Gaza.

This is just another step in the master plan of Israel's expansionism encompassing Gaza and the West Bank, if they are built it will be Israelis that occupy and own them.

It should be for the Palestinian people of Gaza to decide how and what is built and Israel should be made to pay for it.

May I humbly ask: During the re-construction of the Gaza Strip, wehere are the Palestinians going to live?

How many of the impoverished Palestinians will be able to buy a condominium in the newly built Gaza Strip?

The final solution of how to get rid of the Palestinians.

18 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Israel, my friend, was just waiting for an excuse. And they got one from amoral terrorists. That does mean Israel gets to act like barbarian hordes. The land theft is just one example of how this has played out.

First you are not my friend and if you knew anything about history, the Jewish people were in that area many years before a muslim appeared. Many times, like the Golan mountains, Israel has returned the land only to have muslims continue to take pot shots at them so they said enough.

6 hours ago, koolkarl said:

First you are not my friend and if you knew anything about history, the Jewish people were in that area many years before a muslim appeared. Many times, like the Golan mountains, Israel has returned the land only to have muslims continue to take pot shots at them so they said enough.

Too bad your reject honest offers of friendly discussion so glibly. Of course, the Jews were there first. Islam is a comparatively new religion. So why the eff can't they get along--both sides? Anything less is racism--again, from both sides. If you're talking about potshots, check out the West Bank.

On 1/25/2026 at 10:08 PM, swissie said:

May I humbly ask: During the re-construction of the Gaza Strip, wehere are the Palestinians going to live?

How many of the impoverished Palestinians will be able to buy a condominium in the newly built Gaza Strip?

The final solution of how to get rid of the Palestinians.

"Final solution." What a sick use of these words.

11 hours ago, koolkarl said:

"Final solution." What a sick use of these words.

It has escaped you: It was meant in a sarcastic way.