U.S. unveils plans for “New Gaza” skyscraper development

The United States has unveiled plans for a “New Gaza” that would see the devastated Palestinian territory rebuild from the ground up.

Slides showed dozens of skyscrapers along the Mediterranean coast and residential areas in the Rafah area, while a map outlined the phased development of new residential, agricultural and industrial areas for a population of 2.1 million.

The documents were presented at a signing ceremony at the World Economic Forum in Davos for President Donald Trump’s new peace commission, which is tasked with ending the two-year war between Israel and Hamas and overseeing reconstruction.

“We’re going to be very successful in Gaza. It’s going to be something to watch,” Trump declared.

“I’m a real estate guy at heart, and location is all that matters. I say, ‘Look at this location on the ocean. Look at this beautiful property. What it means to so many people.'”

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who helped broker the ceasefire that took effect in October, said 90,000 tons of munitions had been dropped on Gaza and 60 million tons of rubble still needed to be cleared.

“In the beginning, the idea was: ‘Let’s build a free zone and then we’ll have a Hamas zone.’ And then we said: ‘You know what, let’s plan for catastrophic success,'” he said at the ceremony.

“Hamas signed a demilitarization agreement and that’s what we’re going to implement. People ask what our plan B is. We don’t have a plan B.”

Maps of the US “Master Plan” show an area set aside for “coastal tourism” that will feature 180 towers as well as multiple areas for “residential complexes,” “industrial complexes, data centers, advanced manufacturing,” and “parks, agriculture, and sports facilities.”

A new seaport and airport will be built near the Egyptian border, and there will be a “trilateral crossing point” where the Egyptian and Israeli borders meet.

Reconstruction will be divided into four phases, starting in Rafah and gradually extending north to Gaza City.

The map also depicts a clearing along the border between Egypt and Israel. it seems to mark something Trump’s 20-point peace plan Known as the “Security Border,” Israeli troops will be stationed there “until Gaza is properly secure.”

Another slide said that “New Rafah” will have more than 100,000 permanent housing units, 200 education centers and 75 medical facilities.

Gaza’s southernmost city was once home to some 280,000 people, but the city has been largely razed by Israeli attacks and controlled demolitions during the war and now lies within Israeli-controlled territory.

Kushner said he believed it was “feasible” to complete construction of “New Rafah” within two to three years.

“We’ve started clearing the rubble and doing some demolition work. And then there’s New Gaza. It could be a hope or it could be a destination, with a lot of industry.”

He added that a conference would be held in Washington in the coming weeks at which contributions from various countries would be announced and “amazing investment opportunities” for the private sector would be outlined.

Last February, Trump sparked outrage around the world when he proposed permanently relocating Gaza’s Palestinians to neighboring countries, with the United States taking over the territory and transforming it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

Kushner also declared that Gaza’s demilitarization “starts now,” noting that “without security, no one will invest.”

He said the territory’s new technocratic Palestinian government, the National Governing Council of Gaza (NCAG), would “work with Hamas on demilitarization to truly advance the principles agreed in the document to the next stage”.

Hamas has previously refused to give up its weapons without establishing an independent Palestinian state.

But Trump warned the group: “They have to give up their weapons, and if they don’t, they’re screwed.”

Trump also insisted that Hamas hand over the body of the last Israeli hostage in Gaza, which Israel said should happen before the second phase of the peace plan began last week.

In the first phase, Hamas and Israel agreed to a ceasefire, the exchange of all living and dead Israeli hostages in Gaza for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, a partial Israeli troop withdrawal, and massive shipments of humanitarian aid.

The ceasefire remains fragile and at least 477 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in the past three months, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza. The Israeli military said three soldiers were killed in an attack by Palestinian armed groups.

Israeli artillery fire across Gaza on Thursday reportedly killed five people, four of them in shelling in the Zeitoun neighborhood in eastern Gaza City.

The UN says the humanitarian situation remains dire, with nearly 1 million people lacking adequate shelter and 1.6 million facing severe acute food insecurity.

Hamas issued a statement on Thursday saying it remained committed to the October agreement and accused Israel of seeking to “undermine international efforts to solidify the ceasefire.”

Speaking in Davos, Israeli President Isaac Herzog praised “the efforts of President Trump and his leadership.” But he warned: “The real test must be Hamas leaving Gaza”.

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the occupied West Bank, has called for full implementation of the peace plan, including the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and for the PA to play a central role in governing Gaza.

Meanwhile, NCAG chief Ali Shaath announced that the Rafah crossing with Egypt will be open in both directions next week. The facility has been mostly closed since the Palestinian side was occupied by Israeli forces in May 2024.

“Opening Rafah signals that Gaza is no longer closed to the future and war,” he said.

The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage.

Israel responded to the attack with a military operation in Gaza that killed more than 71,560 people, according to the Gaza Strip’s health ministry.