White House official downplays significance of sit-down that Witkoff had billed as a ‘large meeting’ to discuss administration’s ‘comprehensive’ plan for day after Israel-Hamas war

US President Donald Trump presided over a policy meeting Wednesday on the Gaza war, receiving input from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Trump Middle East envoy Jared Kushner, a senior White House official said.

Trump, top White House officials, Blair and Kushner discussed all aspects of the Gaza issue, including escalating food aid deliveries, the hostage crisis, post-war plans and more, the official told Reuters.

While US special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News a day earlier that Wednesday’s “large meeting” was to discuss the “comprehensive plan” that the administration is putting together for the postwar management of Gaza, the White House official described the session as “simply a policy meeting,” the type frequently held by Trump and his team.

“The White House frequently holds policy meetings on a variety of issues, including Israel and Gaza. We have nothing additional to share at this time,” a White House official told The Times of Israel.

Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, was a key White House adviser in Trump’s first term on Middle East issues. Blair, who was Britain’s prime minister during the 2003 Iraq war, has also been active on Middle East issues.

Blair has been putting together a post-war Gaza plan for the past several months, meeting with various regional stakeholders to get their input and support for his efforts, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel, adding that the former British premier has been in touch with both Kushner and Witkoff.

Blair met Witkoff at the White House in July, on the same day that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in town to meet Trump, Axios reported. The news site said Kushner was also in Israel earlier this month, and met Netanyahu to discuss the ongoing Gaza war.

Also on Wednesday, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer arrived in Washington and held meetings with senior White House officials just before the White House Gaza policy session, the source said, highlighting the close level of coordination between the US and Israel on the matter.

Shortly after the White House meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who was also in Washington and thanked the Trump administration for its support for Israel.

The pair discussed “the issue of Iran following the unprecedented cooperation between the countries to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat and the ‘snapback’ issue, the war on Hamas in Gaza, and the UN General Assembly discussions next month. Cooperation to repel anti-Israeli moves in the international arena was also raised,” according to an Israeli readout.

Axios said that Blair was involved in the post-war plan that Dermer worked on with Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed during the Biden administration. Parts of that proposal were incorporated into a plan that Biden’s secretary of state Antony Blinken presented days before leaving office.

While Trump appears to have downgraded the importance of the Gaza war on his agenda, he has expressed his desire for it to end quickly.

“I can’t watch it anymore. It’s a terrible thing,” one US official speaking to Axios quoted Trump as having said.

At the same time, he seems to be backing Israel’s plan to take over Gaza City, which will likely drag out the conflict for at least several more months while also placing the lives of hostages at risk.

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