Hi there,

This month we mark 30 years of Democracy Now!’s fearless, independent journalism, and today our reporting plays a more critical role in protecting our democracy than ever before. Please donate today, so we can keep shining a spotlight on the grassroots movements fighting for democracy and challenging abuses of power around the world. Every dollar makes a difference. Thank you so much!

Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Israel Kills 4 in Gaza as Kushner Lays Out Plan for Turning Gaza into Seaside Resort

HeadlineJan 23, 2026

In news from Gaza, Israeli tank shelling killed four Palestinians on Thursday. The killings came as President Trump was launching his so-called Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland. At the ceremony, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner outlined his vision for turning Gaza into a glitzy seaside resort filled with futuristic high-rise buildings.

Jared Kushner: “In the Middle East, they build cities like this in — you know, 2-3 million people, they build this in three years. And so, stuff like this is very doable, if we make it happen.”

Kushner said the first phase of the project would be rebuilding the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which was leveled by Israel. The Rafah border crossing with Egypt is expected to reopen next week.

Many Palestinians fear Israel and the U.S. will move to forcibly displace them from Gaza. On Thursday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog met in Davos with the leader of Somalia’s breakaway Somaliland region. Israel recently became the first nation to recognize Somaliland as an independent nation. There have been reports Israel wants to expel Palestinians en masse from Gaza to Somaliland.

This all comes as Palestinians in Gaza struggle to survive with little food or shelter. This is Mohammed Al-Qudra in Khan Younis speaking about Trump’s plan for Gaza.

Mohammed Al-Qudra: “No matter how much he says, it’s all in vain. Why? Because we, as citizens, aren’t seeing any real change on the ground. The suffering remains the same. Rain. There are no tents, no shelters, as you can see, the destruction. Wood, we don’t have that. … President Trump announced that the second phase had begun, but we haven’t seen anything. People in al-Mawasi are living in tents, displaced. People in the east can’t reach their homes. You can hear the shooting, the shelling, day and night, martyrs.”

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top