Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, said he and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, are discussing bringing together real-estate executives to come up with a plan to rebuild Gaza. 

“We talk about convening people together from all parts of the world, master planners and developers and architects, talking about ideas and so forth,” said Witkoff onstage in conversation with Kushner at the FII Priority conference in Miami, a gathering of business executives sponsored by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund.

Earlier this month, Trump said that “the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip” and turn it into a “Riviera of the Middle East.” Trump has said Gazans could be relocated to surrounding Arab nations and would be better off leaving Gaza. Arab leaders have rejected the idea.  

Trump’s statements set off a flurry of condemnations from the Middle East and Europe, which said that displacing Palestinians from Gaza amounts to ethnic cleansing and is illegal according to international law.

According to a person familiar with the matter, Witkoff has been working on a potential plan to convene a summit at the White House that would bring together real-estate developers and other business leaders to kick off the rebuilding effort. The plan for such a summit is still in its early stages, and would be a first effort to answer the biggest outstanding questions, such as where would construction begin and how would debris be cleared with people living there.

The summit would include a public display, potentially with large cranes and other showy pieces of equipment, the person said. Companies would potentially be asked how they would handle logistical, technical and explosive issues, including how they would detect bombs, deal with underground tunnels used by terrorists and potentially handle people who don’t want to leave the area. 

Onstage at the conference, Witkoff reiterated the idea that Gaza isn’t a suitable place to live.

“You have to see the devastation that exists there today in Gaza. There are 30,000 unexploded shells all over there. The conditions are horrendous,” said Witkoff. “I don’t know why anyone would want to live there today. It’s illogical to me.” Kushner, Trump’s former Middle East envoy, in the past has described Gaza’s waterfront property as “very valuable” and said the best approach would be to “move the people out and then clean it up.” Kushner has said previously that he wouldn’t be involved in any Trump administration policymaking. He has also said he continues to advise the Trump team from his private-sector perch. 

During their talk, Witkoff said he decided to step away from his real-estate development work and take on the role of Middle East envoy because Kushner convinced him to do it.

Trump and many of his closest allies, including Witkoff and Kushner, were real-estate developers before they went into politics. Much of the conversation onstage highlighted that experience.

In his cease-fire negotiations between Hamas and Israel, for instance, Witkoff said it felt like a real-estate closing that was made all the more difficult because neither party would sit at the same table to negotiate.

While the original cease-fire deal includes a three to five year plan to rebuild Gaza, Witkoff doesn’t believe it’s possible within that time frame. 

“This is not something that can be completed in five years,” said Witkoff onstage at the conference. “It’s not physically possible. You can’t develop an apartment building in Manhattan in five years.”

In a Wednesday news conference, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that Egypt is working on a framework for Gaza’s reconstruction plan in partnership with universities and Egyptian consulting firms, and that the country has the capability to rebuild the Gaza Strip within three years while allowing Gazans to stay there.

A report by the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank released this week estimates that the Gaza rebuilding effort would cost more than $50 billion over the next decade.

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