President Donald Trump held a meeting on Wednesday with advisers focusing on plans for post-war Gaza.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, participated in the White House meeting and presented the president with ideas for what post-war governance could include, according to Axios. The meeting lasted over an hour and a half, according to the New York Times.
Kushner was heavily involved in the Abraham Accords, establishing diplomatic ties between Israel and three Arab states during Trump’s first term, but does not have a formal position during the second Trump term.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on Wednesday with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, though the department has not yet released any details of their conversation. Sa’ar said on social media that they had “a productive meeting on mutual challenges and interests for both our nations.”
The president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, previewed the meeting a day before, saying they’re “putting together” a “very comprehensive plan” for how the besieged enclave will be governed once the war ends.
Both Israel and the U.S., along with most Western countries, agree that Hamas, which had been in control of Gaza for about a decade and a half, cannot continue to govern the enclave once the war is over.
Trump has long said he wants to see the war come to an end, the Israeli hostages held by Hamas to be released, and for more humanitarian aid to get to Palestinian civilians. Earlier this week, he predicted a “conclusive ending” to the war “within the next two to three weeks.”
Israeli leaders are facing international and domestic pressure to come to an agreement to end the war and secure the release of the hostages, while the country’s security council voted earlier this month for the Israel Defense Forces to make preparations to take control of Gaza City.
Trump appeared to support such an extensive military operation when he said, “We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!!”
Such an operation could take months, and it risks leading to more Palestinian casualties as well as posing risks to the hostages.
Witkoff said on Fox News on Tuesday that the administration thinks “we’re going to settle this one way or another, certainly before the end of the year.”
International mediators — primarily the United States, Qatar, and Egypt — have sought to get both sides to come to a diplomatic resolution to end the conflict. In nearly two years of war, they have only been able to get Israel and Hamas to agree to two short-term ceasefire agreements that temporarily stopped the war in exchange for the release of some hostages and increased aid. Those agreements fell apart as negotiators could not overcome their competing interests.
Israeli officials have said they are no longer interested in another short-term deal that only returns some of the remaining hostages in exchange for a short-term truce.
There are concerns for the Palestinians caught in the conflict, who have little access to essential goods, including food and medical supplies. The U.S. supports the group that provides aid in Gaza. Israel largely has control of what enters Gaza, given the geography of the region.
Israeli forces have killed more than 60,000 Palestinians since the Israel-Hamas war began after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack that killed roughly 1,200 and in which 250 were kidnapped.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in May 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for bearing “criminal responsibility” for the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, willfully causing great suffering, willful killing, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and extermination. The ICC also issued arrest warrants for three senior Hamas leaders, though they have all been killed by Israeli forces since then.
IDF CHIEF SAYS HOSTAGE DEAL ‘ON THE TABLE,’ BUT IN ‘NETANYAHU’S HANDS’
Multiple human rights organizations have accused Israel’s operations of meeting the legal definition of genocide, a claim they vehemently dispute.
A handful of European countries have announced their intent to recognize Palestinian statehood at next month’s United Nations General Assembly, which U.S. and Israeli officials have argued would amount to rewarding Hamas for the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel’s history.