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Live Blog Update| Israel's genocide in Gaza

Can Jared Kushner's investment firm connect Gulf money to Trump's Gaza plan?

President Donald Trump’s plan for the US to take over the Gaza Strip and build a “Riviera of the Middle East” was so stunning that analysts and diplomats have speculated he was making up much of it as he went along.

When examined closer, it is clear that one of Trump’s closest family members has been discussing something similar for at least a year - and he has the funds and political connections to make it a reality.

“Gaza’s waterfront property, it could be very valuable,” Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former Middle East advisor, said in February 2024.

"It's a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but I think from Israel's perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up,” he added.

Kushner was speaking as Israel was weighing an invasion of Rafah, Gaza’s southern border town. He said that Palestinians could be forcibly displaced to the Negev desert in Israel or Egypt. When pressed, he said they would be allowed to return to Gaza.

Read more: Can Jared Kushner's investment firm connect Gulf money to Trump's Gaza plan?

US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump (R) and her husband Jared Kushner attend the Liberty inaugural ball in Washington, DC, on 20 January 2025 (Jim Watson/AFP)
US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump (R) and her husband Jared Kushner attend the Liberty inaugural ball in Washington, DC, on 20 January 2025 (Jim Watson/AFP)