Trump, Kushner pitch glossy Gaza over rubble of Israeli genocide

US officials presented their vision of what they call "New Gaza", which they say would turn the Palestinian territory marred by Israeli genocide into a “glitzy resort of skyscrapers” by the sea, reigniting US President Donald Trump’s controversial "Riviera of the Middle East" comment.

"We're going to be very successful in Gaza. It's going to be a great thing to watch," Trump said on Thursday while presenting his "Board of Peace" conflict-resolution body in Davos.

"I'm a real estate person at heart, and I said, Look at this location on the sea. Look at this beautiful piece of property. What it could be for so many people," Trump said at the World Economic Forum.

Israel, however, continues to occupy Gaza's southern and eastern buffer zones, as well as large areas in the north, maintaining occupation over more than half of the territory.

Since a ceasefire took effect in October last year, Israeli attacks have killed over 500 Palestinians and wounded 1,287, while Israel has imposed severe restrictions on the entry of food, shelter materials and medical supplies into Gaza.

‘Master plan’

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has no official title but is one of his envoys for the Gaza ceasefire, said his "master plan" aimed for "catastrophic success".

With a slide showing dozens of shiny terraced apartment towers overlooking a tree-lined promenade, he promised a Mediterranean utopia rising from the scarred Gaza landscape.

"In the Middle East, they build cities like this, you know, for two or three million people; they build this in three years," Kushner said.

"And so stuff like this is very doable if we make it happen."

He touted investments of at least $25 billion to rebuild infrastructure and public services destroyed by Israel.

Kushner’s remarks and visuals sparked a wave of online backlash, with critics accusing him of promoting a detached, real-estate fantasy that erases Gaza’s destruction and the suffering of Palestinians.

Riviera utopia returns

Within 10 years, the territory's GDP would be $10 billion, and households would enjoy an average income of $13,000 a year thanks to "100-percent full employment and opportunity for everybody there,” he said.

"It could be a hope. It could be a destination, have a lot of industry and really be a place that the people there can thrive."

"So for the next 100 days, we're going to continue to just be heads down and focused on making sure this is implemented."

Trump had earlier floated his vision of turning Gaza into a "Riviera of the Middle East", sparking outrage around the world.

Palestinians in Gaza criticised Trump's plan to take over Gaza and resettle Palestinians elsewhere, vowing to never leave the ruins of their homes in the coastal enclave.

Inhumane conditions

The UN warned this month that Palestinians were living in "inhumane" conditions even as the truce entered its second phase.

Entire neighbourhoods, hospitals and schools have been heavily damaged or destroyed, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to live in makeshift shelters.

Kushner said 85 percent of Gaza's economic output had been aid for a long time.

"That's not sustainable. It doesn't give these people dignity. It doesn't give them hope," he said.

"We'll announce a lot of the contributions that will be made in a couple of weeks in Washington," he said.

"There'll be amazing investment opportunities."

Since the start of Israel's genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023, more than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 171,000 wounded, most of them women and children. Much of the Palestinian enclave has been reduced to rubble by Israeli bombardment.

Approximately 2.4 million Palestinians are living in increasingly dire conditions.