U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to arrive in Israel on Saturday for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with discussions set to focus on reopening the Rafah border crossing and launching the reconstruction of Gaza under President Donald Trump’s vision and the newly established Board of Peace, Israeli officials said.
Washington is pressing Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing before the recovery of the final fallen Israeli hostage, Sgt. First Class Ran Gvili, whose body is still being sought. U.S. officials have assured Israel that Washington guarantees maximum efforts will be made to locate his remains, according to the officials.
The visit comes amid growing Israeli frustration over the inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in a new Gaza Administrative Committee, a body intended to operate between the Board of Peace, which would oversee the ceasefire agreement, and a Palestinian technocratic government tasked with implementing policy on the ground.
A senior Israeli official described the creation of the committee as “revenge by Witkoff and Kushner” for Netanyahu’s refusal to reopen Rafah before Gvili is found. The official said the committee’s establishment, as well as the inclusion of Ankara and Doha, was not coordinated with Israel.
On Friday morning, Trump formally launched the Board of Peace, a multinational body he said would focus on resolving conflicts worldwide. A number of world leaders signed on in support. Several European leaders said they would not participate, citing objections to the board’s structure, concerns that Trump would wield excessive centralized authority within it and the invitation extended to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose presence is unacceptable to European governments because of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Witkoff and Kushner are currently in Abu Dhabi, where a rare trilateral meeting between Ukraine, Russia and the United States is taking place — the first such talks since the war began in 2022. According to reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent senior aides from his office along with intelligence and security officials, while Russia dispatched only military and security representatives. The U.S. delegation includes Witkoff, Kushner and White House adviser Josh Grunbaum.
As part of the Board of Peace initiative, Kushner on Friday outlined a sweeping redevelopment vision for Gaza, describing a transformed coastal enclave with parks, high-rise towers and industrial zones employing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. The plan includes the construction of 180 towers along Gaza’s coastline, a seaport and an airport. Speaking in Davos, Kushner said, “If you believe in peace — it is possible.”
Kushner said the immediate priority would be the disarmament of Hamas, although he did not mention the militant group by name in the presentation. Under the U.S. plan, all weapons in Gaza would be controlled by a “single authority,” referring to the technocratic Palestinian government announced last week. The presentation stated that “heavy weapons, tunnels, military infrastructure and weapons and ammunition production facilities will be destroyed.”
“This is not a group of naïve dreamers,” said a senior official involved in the Board of Peace. “They have dreams — but they are not naïve. Gaza’s development and reconstruction will not happen without dismantling Hamas and demilitarizing the Strip. Trump’s preference is for this to happen voluntarily, with strong pressure from the mediators. But it is clear to everyone that if it does not happen the easy way, it will happen the hard way, and Hamas will be disarmed by Israel. That is the starting point of the plan.”