Trump holds Gaza policy meeting with Tony Blair and Jared Kushner, White House official says
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A US official described the session as "simply a policy meeting," the type frequently held by Mr Trump and his team.
PHOTO: EPA
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WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump was presiding over a policy meeting on the Gaza war on Aug 27 with input from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Trump Middle East envoy Jared Kushner, a senior White House official said.
Mr Trump, top White House officials, Mr Blair and Mr Kushner were discussing all aspects of the Gaza issue, including escalating food aid deliveries, the hostage crisis, post-war plans and more, the official told Reuters.
The official described the session as "simply a policy meeting," the type frequently held by Mr Trump and his team.
Mr Kushner, who is married to Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka, was a key White House adviser in Mr Trump's first term on Middle East issues.
Mr Blair, who was prime minister during the 2003 Iraq war, has also been active on Middle East issues.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff previewed the meeting
"It is a very comprehensive plan we are putting together on the next day (in Gaza) and many people are going to see how robust it is and how well meaning it is and it reflects President Trump's humanitarian motives here," Mr Witkoff said.
Mr Trump had promised a quick end to the war in Gaza during 2024's presidential campaign, but a resolution has been elusive seven months into his second term.
Mr Trump's term began with a ceasefire which lasted two months, until Israeli strikes killed around 400 Palestinians on March 18.
More recently, images of starving Palestinians in Gaza
In February, Trump proposed a US takeover of Gaza and a permanent displacement of Palestinians from the coastal territory.
The plan was globally condemned
Mr Trump cast the plan, which he has not publicly mentioned in recent weeks, as a re-development idea to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
The plan echoed an idea that Mr Kushner floated a year earlier to clear Gaza of its Palestinian inhabitants and turn it into a waterfront property.
The Financial Times reported in July that the Tony Blair Institute participated in a project to develop a post-war Gaza plan.
The think-tank had said it “has had many calls with different groups on post-war reconstruction of Gaza but none have included the idea of forcible relocation of people from Gaza.”
Separately, the US State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar in Washington and discussed Gaza and regional issues.
Mr Saar, asked after the meeting what the plan was for a Palestinian state, said there would not be any.
Some US allies have in recent weeks announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state.
Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza since October 2023 has killed over 62,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
It has also caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced Gaza’s entire population and prompted accusations of genocide and war crimes at international courts that Israel denies.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023 when Hamas militants attacked Israel
