Officials said that the proposal was in the works over the past 45 days and the top White House aides had received input from other U.S. and Israeli officials.
The United States has drafted the “Project Sunrise” plan to transform Gaza into a city of high-speed rail and luxury resorts, a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) exclusive reported on Friday as Israel continued its relentless bombardment of the area.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, developed the project’s 32-page PowerPoint draft proposal, according to the WSJ.
The U.S. reportedly included slides of potential donors, including the Gulf countries, Türkiye and Egypt, the report added, citing U.S. officials. The purported project would cost $112.1bn and would take 10 years to complete.
However, the proposal does not provide details on where the Strip’s displaced population would stay until the plan is executed.
Officials said the proposal had been in development for the past 45 days, with top White House aides receiving input from U.S. and Israeli officials as well as contractors.
The proposal entails transforming Rafah into Gaza’s “seat of governance”, where there would be more than 100,000 housing units, at least 200 schools, and more than 75 medical facilities. The area would also have 180 mosques and cultural centres.
The second slide also states that Gaza’s reconstruction is contingent on the demilitarisation and decommissioning of “all weapons and tunnels” belonging to Hamas.
A White House spokesperson told the WSJ that “the Trump administration will continue to work diligently” in order “to sustain a lasting peace and lay the groundwork for a peaceful and prosperous Gaza”.
The spokesperson did not confirm or deny the reported project.
Since taking office in January, Trump has proposed several controversial plans to transform Gaza, including the so-called “Riviera of the Middle East,” which he presented in February 2025.
The plans have received global condemnation, especially in the region, as they hinted towards forcibly expelling Gaza’s 2 million population from their homeland. Last year, Kushner called for the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to the Negev Desert.
Meanwhile, a meeting took place in Miami on Friday between the countries that brokered the latest Gaza ceasefire in October—Qatar, the U.S., Egypt and Türkiye—over advancing to the next phase of the deal between Hamas and Israel.
In a statement on Saturday, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said that there was emphasis on arrangements to ensure Gaza is governed by Palestinians.
Israel’s ceasefire violations persist
Since taking effect on October 10, the first phase of the ceasefire has recorded at least 738 violations by Israel, resulting in the killing of at least 394 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
Israel carries out the violations despite Hamas’s handover of the remaining captives including the bodies of those killed in captivity, with only the body of Israeli Ran Gvili, whose remains have been difficult to recover due to the heavy destruction caused by Israel’s bombardment of the Strip for over two years.
On Friday, Israel killed six Palestinians in a deadly attack in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood, bringing up the total Palestinians killed during the genocide to 70,925, according to Palestine’s news agency, Wafa.
Local authorities are still recovering the bodies of thousands killed from under the rubble while battling harsh winter conditions and a lack of resources due to Israel’s total blockade.
