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By: Fern Sidman

In a development carrying sweeping implications for the future of the Gaza Strip and the wider Middle East, The Times of Israel has learned exclusively that President Donald Trump has formally authorized former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to spearhead a multinational initiative to govern Gaza in the aftermath of the current war. According to four sources familiar with the matter, Blair’s proposal—now backed at the highest levels of Washington—envisions a transitional body that will strip Hamas of authority and gradually prepare the enclave for handover to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

This exclusive revelation published on Thursday in The Times of Israel marks the first time that the detailed contours of Blair’s plan have been disclosed publicly, even as fragments of his behind-the-scenes role have surfaced in recent months. What emerges is an ambitious attempt to end the war, secure the release of hostages, and create a governance framework that can reconcile international, regional, and Palestinian demands while navigating the treacherous politics of Israel’s coalition government.

Blair began shaping his proposal in the early months of the war between Israel and Hamas, conceiving it as a “day after” roadmap for Gaza. But as sources told The Times of Israel, the plan has since evolved into something far more immediate: a mechanism not only to manage the postwar reality but to end the war itself.

The Trump administration, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke with The Times of Israel, has concluded that without a consensus framework for Gaza’s governance after Hamas, any ceasefire would prove unsustainable. The Blair plan, then, is presented as a critical linchpin: a guarantor of both stability and progress toward hostage release.

At the heart of the plan lies the Gaza International Transitional Authority (GITA)—a body designed to serve as the supreme political and legal authority during the interim period. Blair’s draft, obtained and authenticated by The Times of Israel, sketches out a detailed governance architecture, from executive leadership to security enforcement, economic investment, and property rights safeguards.

For months, speculation has swirled that postwar proposals linked to Blair were meant to encourage or facilitate mass displacement of Gaza’s population—some even referencing a fantastical “Trump Riviera” development scheme. Yet, as The Times of Israel can now report exclusively, Blair’s actual draft takes a radically different approach.

Far from envisioning expulsion, the plan explicitly creates a Property Rights Preservation Unit, intended to protect Gazans’ right to remain or return, even in cases of temporary voluntary departure. “We do not have a plan to move the Gazan population out of Gaza. Gaza is for Gazans,” one source involved in the Blair discussions emphasized to The Times of Israel.

This marks a clear divergence from earlier proposals, some advanced by figures close to Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer or consultants tied to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Those initiatives flirted with “voluntary migration.” Trump himself gave legitimacy to that idea earlier this year, when he spoke about permanently relocating Gaza’s population. But as a U.S. official told The Times of Israel, the president has since shifted decisively to back Blair’s more pragmatic alternative.

The turning point came during an August 27 White House policy session, a meeting that has now taken on historic significance. Organized by Jared Kushner—Trump’s son-in-law and former senior adviser—the session brought together Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and a select circle of advisers.

As The Times of Israel has exclusively learned, Kushner had earlier commissioned the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change to draft a postwar governance plan, leveraging Blair’s deep ties with Israeli, Palestinian, and Gulf leaders. Blair then began briefing Trump officials regularly, presenting the contours of his evolving vision.

During the August 27 meeting, Trump gave Blair his official blessing and urged him to secure regional buy-in—famously instructing him to get “Johnny” (Trump’s shorthand for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) on board. While the president imposed a nominal two-week deadline, insiders told The Times of Israel that such timetables were more rhetorical than binding.

Blair’s plan grants the PA a consultative role but stops short of the direct control that Ramallah has demanded. According to an Arab diplomat who spoke to The Times of Israel, Gulf pressure persuaded PA President Mahmoud Abbas to meet Blair in July, and while the PA has engaged “constructively,” frustrations remain.

The draft envisions eventual unification of Palestinian territories under PA leadership—but only after significant reforms. Until then, the PA’s role in the GITA framework is limited to coordination. The proposal thus leaves Ramallah with too little power for its liking, while granting it too much for some in Jerusalem, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long resisted strengthening the PA’s hand.

Sources told The Times of Israel that Netanyahu has nevertheless engaged with Blair’s effort, though skeptics note his track record of delegating sensitive talks to Dermer before pulling back under pressure from far-right coalition partners.

Trump and Blair both recognize that Saudi Arabia is pivotal. Riyadh’s financial clout and symbolic leadership in the Arab world make it the indispensable actor for reconstruction. Yet as an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel, Saudi Arabia and its allies are demanding an “irreversible pathway” to Palestinian statehood in exchange for backing the plan.

This condition directly collides with Netanyahu’s red lines and the ideological commitments of his coalition. The Arab side has made clear, according to The Times of Israel, that without such guarantees, they will withhold both political and financial support.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio hinted at a compromise during a recent press conference with Netanyahu in Jerusalem, carefully framing Hamas’s elimination in narrower terms—perhaps leaving space for regional consensus.

The GITA framework, as obtained by The Times of Israel, is strikingly elaborate.

Governance Structure:

GITA will be established via a UN Security Council resolution. Its board will include 7–10 members, comprising at least one Palestinian representative, a senior UN official, international executives, and strong Muslim representation. The board chair will be appointed by consensus and serve as GITA’s international face.

Executive Mechanisms:

A Strategic Secretariat of up to 25 staff will support the board, while an Executive Secretariat will function as GITA’s administrative hub. Beneath this will sit the Palestinian Executive Authority (PEA), a technocratic body tasked with service delivery in health, education, finance, infrastructure, and welfare.

Security Apparatus:

The plan establishes an Executive Protection Unit for leadership security, a nationally recruited Gaza civil police force, and—most critically—an International Stabilization Force (ISF). The ISF, an internationally mandated multinational force, will secure borders, deter armed groups, disrupt weapons smuggling, and support local policing without replacing it.

Judicial and Property Rights:

A judicial board chaired by an Arab jurist will oversee Gaza’s courts, while the Property Rights Preservation Unit will safeguard ownership and residency rights.

 

Economic Development:

A Gaza Investment Promotion and Economic Development Authority will attract private capital, complemented by a separate grant-disbursing body.

Budget Estimates:

According to the draft cited by The Times of Israel, the first year’s budget is projected at $90 million, rising to $135 million in year two and $164 million in year three. These figures exclude ISF and humanitarian costs, which are expected to be substantial.

A central innovation of Blair’s proposal, according to sources who spoke with The Times of Israel, is its insistence on a performance-based, rather than time-bound, transition to PA governance. While the plan anticipates several years of GITA oversight, it rules out a decade-long occupation-style administration.

Reforms demanded of the PA are described as “not cosmetic.” Donors, financial institutions, and Arab partners would track progress, with the PA gradually assuming greater responsibilities as benchmarks are met.

This approach, sources told The Times of Israel, reflects Blair’s determination to balance pragmatism with long-term political aspirations.

Perhaps the most critical—and controversial—element of the Blair plan is its explicit mandate to prevent Hamas from regaining power. The ISF is tasked with “conduct[ing] targeted operations to prevent the resurgence of armed groups, disrupt weapons smuggling, and neutralize asymmetric threats.”

This represents a dramatic break from previous ceasefire arrangements, which often left Hamas’s military wing intact. As one source explained to The Times of Israel, “The way to end the war is to agree on principles for how Gaza will be governed afterward in a manner that Hamas is not involved and not armed and unable to regain power.”

For Trump, embracing Blair’s plan offers both strategic and political payoffs. It provides a path toward ending a grinding war that has strained global alliances, while projecting U.S. leadership in Middle Eastern diplomacy. It also allows the president to sidestep the more extreme proposals circulating among some Israeli officials.

For Netanyahu, however, the Blair plan poses a dilemma. On the one hand, it aligns with Israel’s strategic objective of removing Hamas. On the other, it risks empowering the PA and moving toward a two-state framework—both red lines for his far-right partners. As sources told The Times of Israel, Netanyahu’s instinct to hedge may once again collide with the urgency of U.S. pressure.

Blair’s office declined to comment on the record when approached by The Times of Israel. But the significance of this exclusive report cannot be overstated: it reveals for the first time the contours of a U.S.-backed international plan that could redefine the trajectory of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The draft continues to evolve as Blair incorporates feedback from stakeholders. Yet its core vision—an internationally mandated transitional authority for Gaza, backed by the United States and led by a coalition of global and regional actors—has now been set in motion with Trump’s formal authorization.

Whether it succeeds will depend on overcoming daunting obstacles: PA reform, Israeli politics, Arab state conditions, and Hamas’s inevitable resistance. But as one source told The Times of Israel, time is perilously short. “We don’t have months or weeks. We have days.”

The Blair plan, as revealed exclusively by The Times of Israel, is not just another policy paper. It is a bold attempt to end one of the region’s most intractable conflicts, to rescue hostages, and to build a governance framework that excludes Hamas while preparing for Palestinian self-determination.

Its fate now hinges on a fragile balance: Trump’s political will, Netanyahu’s maneuvering, Abbas’s acquiescence, and Riyadh’s demands. Each actor holds veto power; each must be persuaded.

History may ultimately judge Blair’s initiative as either a breakthrough toward peace or another failed experiment in Middle Eastern statecraft. For now, what is clear—thanks to this exclusive reporting by The Times of Israel—is that the world’s most powerful players are converging on Gaza’s future, and that the clock is ticking.