US President Donald Trump is set to preside over a major meeting at the White House on Wednesday to discuss strategies for Gaza after the ongoing war, according to his envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Speaking in a Fox News interview on Tuesday, Witkoff revealed that the gathering will focus on a “very comprehensive plan” addressing the future of the Palestinian territory once hostilities subside. While he declined to share specifics, he stressed that the initiative is broad and designed with long-term stability in mind.
The comments followed a question on whether Washington has crafted a “day-after plan” for Gaza, in anticipation of the eventual end of the conflict sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 assault on Israel. That attack left 1,219 people dead, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures compiled by AFP.
In response, Israel launched a large-scale military campaign that has so far killed more than 62,800 Palestinians, most of them civilians, based on data from Gaza’s health ministry, which the United Nations regards as credible.
Earlier this year, Trump drew international attention by suggesting that the United States could assume control of Gaza, relocate its roughly two million residents, and transform the territory into a prime real estate hub along the Mediterranean coast. He described a vision of turning the area into the “Riviera of the Middle East” after clearing debris and unexploded ordnance.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Trump’s controversial proposal, though it was met with strong criticism from several European and Arab governments.
While Witkoff offered no further insight into the specifics of the plan, he maintained that observers would soon “see how robust and well-intentioned it is.”
