AI Overview
"Project Sunrise" is a $112 billion, 10-year proposal led by Jared Kushner and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff to reconstruct the Gaza Strip into a high-tech, luxury coastal hub, according to reports in late December 2025 and January 2026. Unveiled during the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2026, the plan aims to turn the war-torn territory into a "Middle East Riviera" with high-rise hotels, smart cities, and AI-optimized energy networks.
Key Aspects of Project Sunrise:
Vision: The 32-page blueprint proposes "pie-slice-shaped" smart cities, a new seaport, an airport, and a freight rail line.
Development Plan: The plan, which is slated to take 10 years, focuses on turning 70% of the coastline into commercial and tourist space. It is structured in phases, starting with "New Rafah" in the south to house 100,000 units before moving north.
Funding: The proposal includes a $112.1 billion investment strategy, with the U.S. potentially anchoring approximately $60 billion in grants and loan guarantees.
Conditions: The plan is heavily contingent on the total demilitarization of Hamas, with Kushner emphasizing there is "no Plan B" without verified disarmament.
Challenges and Criticism:
Security & Feasibility: Critics and officials doubt the feasibility of the project while Hamas is still active or without a stable political solution.
Humanitarian Concerns: The proposal faces backlash for focusing on luxury development rather than immediate, sustainable housing for the 2 million displaced residents, with some critics calling it a form of "colonization".
Rubble Removal: The plan faces a massive hurdle in simply clearing the estimated 60 million tons of debris, which the UN estimates could take over seven years.
Kushner has argued that with proper security, the project could transform the region rapidly, citing similar developments in other parts of the world.
The plan to transform the Gaza Strip into a "gleaming metropolis" was shown in 32 PowerPoint slides in a pitch to world governments and investors, the report said.
The Trump administration is pitching “Project Sunrise,” a plan that will reportedly rebuild the Gaza Strip into a “futuristic coastal destination,” according to a Friday report by the Wall Street Journal.
It noted that US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, along with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and two other White House aides, drafted a proposal comprising 32 PowerPoint slides to transform Gaza.
The presentation, depicted as “sensitive but unclassified,” was shown to Turkey, Egypt, and several investors and wealthy Gulf kingdoms, according to the report.
This reconstruction would cost $112.1 billion over 10 years, according to the WSJ, which cited the draft proposal. The US would provide $60b. in grants, with the plan stating that Gaza would eventually be able to self-fund many projects.
The WSJ also notes that the presentation doesn’t specify which countries or companies would fund the reconstruction, nor where Gaza’s residents would live during the rebuilding. This has caused some US officials to express doubt about the plan, with some saying that Hamas will refuse to disarm in the first place.
The proposal was developed over 45 days, with Kushner and Witkoff enlisting the help of senior White House aide Josh Gruenbaum.
Officials cited by the WSJ said that if the project goes through, they plan to “update and revise the numbers about every two years as it unfolds.”
Kushner and Witkoff had previously met with Egyptian, Turkish, and Qatari officials in Miami to discuss developments in Gaza before the two US officials delivered their presentation.
Initial US announcement of Gaza takeover was made by Trump in February
The report by the WSJ comes almost a year after Trump initially announced during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US would take over the management of the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future.
He said that by taking over Gaza, the US will create economic development that will provide an “unlimited number of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
“We’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it will be something that the entire Middle East could be very proud of,” Trump said.
Friday’s WSJ report cited supporters of Kushner’s and Witkoff’s latest proposal, who said that allowing Gaza to continue without reconstruction or development is a worse alternative. It also cited Trump’s vision of turning Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” as a better solution.
Trump administration reps have just revealed a grandiose $112 billion plan to rebuild war-torn Gaza into a futuristic international destination dubbed “Project Sunrise.”
The 10-year development plan, drafted by first son-in-law Jared Kushner, US special envoy Steve Witkoff, and two top White House aides, is currently courting investor countries with a 32-slide PowerPoint presentation detailing the bold plan to renovate burning rubble into beach resorts.
Illustration of the "Humanitarian Islands in Gaza" Plan: Interim Phase, showing various IDP cities, crossings, security inspections, and humanitarian aid routes within the Gaza Strip.
Gaza would see the development of luxury hotels, high speed rail and AI-optimized smart grid features that would revolutionize the small slice of the coveted Mediterranean coastline into a bustling metropolis, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“Gaza’s destruction has been profound, but we believe what lies ahead is not just restoration — it’s a chance to develop a gateway of prosperity in the Middle East with state-of-the-art infrastructure, urban design, and technology,” the executive summary slide read, according to the outlet.
The total $112 billion cost would be spread out over 10 years, with the US agreeing to “anchor” up to $60 billion in grants and guarantees on debts by raising industry funds.
“Reimagining Gaza as a ‘smart city’ with tech-driven governance and services,” one slide from the PowerPoint presentation beamed.
The ambitious proposal — developed within the last 45 days by Kushner, Witkoff, and White House aides consulted Israeli security experts about the path forward — further called for establishing a “Chief Digital Office and an innovation lab to define standards and guide policymaking.”
The presentation does not go into detail about which countries or companies would be investing in the rebuilding fund, according to WSJ.
Though the plan mapped out distinct phases of construction, it did not provide details for housing the 2 million Palestinians who would be displaced during the massive construction necessary.
There is an estimated 68 million tons of rubble in Gaza after thousands of Israeli airstrikes leveled cities during the two-year war in Gaza.
US officials who have knowledge of the proposal are skeptical that it will come to fruition because a condition would be Hamas agreeing to disarm, the Journal reported.
Witkoff, meanwhile, met Saturday in Miami with high-level delegations from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to discuss implementation for the second phase of the Gaza cease-fire plan.
US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner have pitched a $112 billion worth of “Project Sunrise” for the development of the war-torn Gaza. The pitch, termed as "sensitive but unclassified,” had 32 pages of PowerPoint slides, with skyscrapers, luxury resorts, high-speed rail, AI-optimised smart grids- a real estate bonanza. The plan doesn't clarify where the 2 million Gazans will live during reconstruction, which nation or companies will fund the project, or what the return on investment will be.
The Project Sunrise
It was developed by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff with help from Israeli firms and security officials within 45 days. The proposal was shown to officials from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar in Miami on Friday. The project, reportedly, will cost around $112.1 billion and will take 10 years. It plans to develop the Gaza Strip in three phases- removal of destroyed buildings, unexploded ordnance and Hamas’s tunnels- construction of permanent housing, medical facilities, schools and religious spaces- then the luxury beachfront properties, tech corridors and modern transportation hubs will be developed. Geographically, it will start in the South from Rafah, Khan Yunis, then the central camps and finally Gaza City. The United States is supposed to anchor 20 per cent of the fund, and then there will be funding from foreign government grants and sovereign debts.
Why is the Project a trap?
The project classically fits within the framework of a neo-colonial, extractive capitalism. Here, extraction replaces occupation. The projected plan is based on the demilitarisation and decommission of Hamas' weapons and its tunnel network.
“You are not going to convince anyone to invest money in Gaza if they believe another war is going to happen in two, three years,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
But the proposal skips some of the fundamental steps. Normally, any conflict resolution will follow these steps chronologically: cease fire, political settlements, re-establishment of governance and then reconstruction. But here it's a ceasefire, then demilitarisation and then reconstruction. Political security and sovereignty to be figured out later. For Hamas, which was formed to end the colonial occupation of Israel and establish a Palestinian state, this will be hard to swallow. Further, there is no plan for the 2 million people to live during the reconstruction of Gaza. The humanitarian aid is conditional on the political surrender, which is a form of coercion. Moreover, the proposal frames this as “Dubai in the Mediterranean”, tries to erase years of trauma and the history and tries to portray it as an underutilised 'real estate'. Palestinians are promised jobs later, not ownership. The rebuilding process starts with holding 2 million people hostage. The core contradiction is how does free economy works on occupied and unfree people and land.
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