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Kushner unveils ‘New Gaza’ plan at Davos forum

“We’ll start with workforce housing, which we think could be completed in two or three years,” the former White House senior adviser said.

U.S. businessman Jared Kushner speaks at the Board of Peace meeting during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2026. Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images.
U.S. businessman Jared Kushner speaks at the Board of Peace meeting during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2026. Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images.

American businessman and investor Jared Kushner unveiled an ambitious economic development plan for a “new Gaza” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, as part of the launch of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.

“We’ve developed ways to redevelop Gaza. Gaza, as President Trump has been saying, has amazing potential, and this is for the people of Gaza. We’ve developed it into zones,” said Trump’s son-in-law and adviser in his first administration.

“In the beginning, we were toying with the idea of saying, ‘Let’s build a free zone and then we have a Hamas zone.’ Then we said, ‘You know what, let’s just plan for catastrophic success.’ Hamas signed a deal to demilitarize—that is what we are going to enforce. People ask us what our plan B is; we do not have a plan B. We have a plan. We signed an agreement. We are all committed to making that agreement work,” Kushner continued.

“There’s a master plan. We’ll be doing it in phases. In the Middle East, they’ve built cities like this—two, three million people—in three years. So, projects like this are very doable if we make it happen.

“We’ll start with workforce housing, which we think could be completed in two or three years. We’ve already started removing the rubble and doing some of the demolition. Then ‘New Gaza’ could be a hope, it could be a destination, it could have a lot of industry. It could really be a place where the people there can thrive and have great employment, he said.

“Once this starts going, we think there should be 100% full employment—opportunity for everybody there. We have a lot of data on what can be, but we think this really gives the Gazan people an opportunity to live their aspirations. But it all starts with security, and it all starts with governance,” Kushner said.

The ceremony, held on the sidelines of the 56th annual meeting taking place this week in the Swiss ski resort, was attended by representatives from at least 18 nations.

The board, which will initially focus on solidifying the ceasefire with Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, “can do pretty much whatever we want to do” once it is “completely formed,” said Trump.

“And we’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations,” he added.

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