White House Gaza meeting sees Tony Blair and Jared Kushner take center stage

Trump’s renewed focus on Gaza policy reflects his stated desire to end what he has called a “terrible” conflict.

By Aaron Sull, Jewish Breaking News

President Trump convened a comprehensive Gaza policy meeting Wednesday, bringing together former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and son-in-law Jared Kushner to discuss postwar plans for the war-torn enclave.

While specific details from the 90-minute Oval Office session remained under wraps, a senior White House official told Reuters that participants tackled all aspects of Gaza policy – from the ongoing hostage crisis and plans to scale up food aid deliveries to broader postwar reconstruction frameworks.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff led the discussions, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio joining for portions of the meeting.

Despite Witkoff’s preview during a Fox News interview Tuesday – where he described “a large meeting” to discuss the administration’s “comprehensive plan” – White House officials downplayed expectations afterward.

One senior official characterized it as “simply a policy meeting,” the type frequently held by Trump’s team, adding that they had “nothing additional to share at this time.”

Kushner, who married Trump’s daughter Ivanka, spearheaded the first administration’s biggest diplomatic achievement – the Abraham Accords establishing relations between Israel and three Arab states.

His business ties and personal relationships across the region have kept him in Trump’s orbit even after leaving government.

Blair, meanwhile, has been quietly developing his own postwar Gaza framework for months.

Sources familiar with his work say the former British prime minister has been meeting with regional stakeholders to build support for reconstruction efforts, maintaining regular contact with both Kushner and Witkoff throughout the process.

Trump’s renewed focus on Gaza policy reflects his stated desire to end what he has called a “terrible” conflict. “I can’t watch it anymore. It’s a terrible thing,” one US official quoted Trump as saying to Axios.

Yet his administration appears to support Israel’s planned takeover of Gaza City, an operation IDF brass warn could extend the conflict for months while potentially endangering the remaining hostages.

That contradiction became clearer when Witkoff revealed the administration opposes additional partial hostage deals. Of the 50 captives still in Gaza, Israeli authorities believe 20 remain alive, have grave concerns about two others, and have confirmed 28 deaths.

“We adamantly want, and I’m following the president’s direction here when I say this, all of those hostages home this week,” Witkoff told Fox News host Bret Baier.

“There’s been a deal on the table for the last six or seven weeks that would have released 10 of the hostages out of the 20 who we think are alive. It was Hamas who slow-played that process, and it is Hamas now who is saying we accept that deal.”

While Witkoff avoided specifics about obstacles preventing the return of hostages held nearly two years since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, he confirmed the “official position” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is that there will be a full return of hostages or no ceasefire deal as he pushes forward with plans to take Gaza City.