The White House convened a meeting yesterday with Steve Witkoff, the White House special envoy, who had only revealed the impending meeting the day before, during a Fox News interview, according to Reuters. He said the White House would be putting together “a very comprehensive plan” for Gaza. Axios then broke the story yesterday afternoon that both former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Jared Kushner, the husband of President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, were to participate in that White House meeting. They were to “present President Trump with ideas for a post-war plan,” Axios reported. The meeting was also to include “a discussion of how to increase aid flows into Gaza.” According to the sources of Axios, Blair and Kushner were to discuss ideas for how Gaza could be governed without Hamas in power.
“President Trump has been clear that he wants the war to end, and he wants peace and prosperity for everyone in the region. The White House has nothing additional to share on the meeting at this time,” a White House official said.
But Blair’s participation in the meeting was not a one-off. According to Axios’ sources, Witkoff has been discussing a post-war plan for Gaza with Kushner and Blair for several months. Blair met Witkoff at the White House in July, on the same day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Trump, according to sources. Several days later, Blair met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and briefed him on the day-after proposals for Gaza and his talks in Washington. Kushner was also in Israel earlier this month, and met with Netanyahu to discuss Gaza. Blair is reportedly close with Netanyahu and his closest advisor, Ron Dermer, who is in charge of Israel’s post-war planning.
