The Trump administration is pitching “Project Sunrise,” a plan that will reportedly rebuild the Gaza Strip into a “futuristic coastal destination,” according to a Friday report by the Wall Street Journal.
It noted that US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, along with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and two other White House aides, drafted a proposal comprising 32 PowerPoint slides to transform Gaza.
The presentation, depicted as “sensitive but unclassified,” was shown to Turkey, Egypt, and several investors and wealthy Gulf kingdoms, according to the report.
This reconstruction would cost $112.1 billion over 10 years, according to the WSJ, which cited the draft proposal. The US would provide $60b. in grants, with the plan stating that Gaza would eventually be able to self-fund many projects.
The WSJ also notes that the presentation doesn’t specify which countries or companies would fund the reconstruction, nor where Gaza’s residents would live during the rebuilding. This has caused some US officials to express doubt about the plan, with some saying that Hamas will refuse to disarm in the first place.
The proposal was developed over 45 days, with Kushner and Witkoff enlisting the help of senior White House aide Josh Gruenbaum.
Officials cited by the WSJ said that if the project goes through, they plan to “update and revise the numbers about every two years as it unfolds.”
Kushner and Witkoff had previously met with Egyptian, Turkish, and Qatari officials in Miami to discuss developments in Gaza before the two US officials delivered their presentation.
Initial US announcement of Gaza takeover was made by Trump in February
The report by the WSJ comes almost a year after Trump initially announced during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US would take over the management of the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future.
He said that by taking over Gaza, the US will create economic development that will provide an “unlimited number of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
“We’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it will be something that the entire Middle East could be very proud of,” Trump said.
Friday’s WSJ report cited supporters of Kushner’s and Witkoff’s latest proposal, who said that allowing Gaza to continue without reconstruction or development is a worse alternative. It also cited Trump’s vision of turning Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” as a better solution.